


The Dark Side

by StoneColdStoryx



Category: The Amazing World of Gumball
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 18:14:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9561059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoneColdStoryx/pseuds/StoneColdStoryx
Summary: When Darwin gets sick of everyone taking advantage of him, he decides to take advice from his conscience but it soon leads him into even more problems...





	1. Chapter 1

Heyyy. Wow my first fanfiction in a while... Well I’m back with a new story. I hope you enjoy!

The clock reads 7:00 a.m. when the alarm began making an unpleasant buzzing sound. Darwin Watterson opened his eyes and looked over on the clock. He smiled and softly hit the snooze button. It was the beginning of a new day. Most people are usually irritated when they wake up early in the morning, but not Darwin. He loved waking up early. The thought of starting a brand new day never failed to put him in a good mood. He was rarely ever in a bad mood in the morning, in fact, he was rarely ever in a bad mood at all. People always found that strange, but he never saw why. Darwin climbed out of his fish bowl and looked over onto the bed next to him. He expected to see his brother, Gumball, sleeping as always. It was always a challenge to get him out of bed. Darwin always had to prepare himself to wake him up. Each morning, Darwin was greeted with a hostile attitude from Gumball, It isn’t until breakfast when he fully wakes up and that goes back to his normal self. However, to his surprise, he wasn’t there. Darwin stood confused for a moment until he heard snoring coming from the other side of the room. He turned around and looked over to see Gumball sleeping on the desk in front of the computer. There was a pencil in his hand and papers scattered all over the desk. It looked as if Gumball was working on something and he had fallen asleep. 

Darwin rolled his eyes with a smirk. Just the thought of Gumball working on something and randomly falling asleep somehow made Darwin giggle. He walked over to the desk and gently grabbed his shoulder and began to shake him. He whispered. “Come on, time to wake up.” Gumball, surprised by the sudden movement, jumped and fell out of his chair. He hit the ground with a thud. 

Darwin ran over to him. “Are you okay?” He asked. Gumball being Gumball, shrugged it off and pretended it was nothing. 

“I’m okay,” Gumball replied, rubbing the back of his head. By looking into Gumball’s eyes, Darwin could see that he hadn’t slept well the night before. He glanced over at the papers scattered all over the desk. Some of the papers were crumpled up and ripped while others had unintelligible handwriting.

“What are all those papers for?” Darwin asked. Gumball shifted his attention to the desk.

“Oh these papers,” Gumball said, grabbing all the papers on the desk and organizing them. “I was just working on the history paper next week,” Gumball usually waited until the last minute to work on assignments, but this time, he wanted it to be different. This assignment was over 30% of his grade and he wanted to prove to everyone and himself that he could do an assignment without screwing it up. Wanting to make sure he got a good head start, he stayed up late to begin. However, he had accidentally fallen asleep, thankfully he got some work done before he did. Darwin was puzzled for a moment, he didn’t remember any project due next week. That’s when it hit him. 

Darwin was hesitant to ask, but he knew he had to. “Um, you mean that research paper?” 

“Yeah,” Gumball said, not looking up from the papers in his hand. Darwin cringed. 

“That... uh...research paper is... due today,” 

Gumball felt his heart drop into his stomach. He thought he was going to throw up. He dropped all the papers from his hand. Papers scattered everywhere on the floor around him. He then grabbed Darwin by his shoulders and shook him, “What do you mean it’s due today?!” His voice and body shaking all over. He was hoping he heard him wrong, even though he knew he heard him perfectly.

Darwin calmly pulled a trembling Gumball off of him. “I mean, yeah it's due today,” Darwin wasn’t surprised, Gumball was always bad when it came to deadlines. “Why did you think it was due next week?”

“I don’t know,” Gumball said, he was on the verge of tears. He plumped down on his bed and looked over at the floor. He saw all the papers that he had worked on all last night. All of it for nothing. Gumball tried in school, he did, but he always managed to screw things up. He was already on the verge of failing that class. He knew if he didn’t turn in this assignment, he would have to go to summer school and that was the last thing he wanted to do. That’s when an idea popped into his head. It was shady, but at that point, he was desperate.

Gumball turned to Darwin, his heart full of hope. “Did you do the assignment?” 

“Of course!” Darwin said in his usual happy tone. However, when he looked over at Gumball’s face, his cheerful demeanor disappeared and was replaced by a confused one. “Why?” 

“Well, you’re doing great and I’m failing, but if you let me have yours...” Gumball began. 

“You want me to give you my report?” Darwin asked, shocked by what he said. He couldn’t believe his brother would ask him for such a favor. 

“Please!” Gumball begged. “It would mean a lot to me.” Darwin was about to say no when he looked over at him. He had the most desperate look on his face. He could see from Gumball’s eyes that he was very close to breaking down. He also noticed the bags under them, from how much sleep he sacrificed to get the project done. How could he say no?

“Fine.” Darwin said with a defeated sigh. He then walked over to his backpack and took out his paper. He handed it over to Gumball. 

“Thanks!” Gumball said as he took the report out of Darwin’s hand and left the room. Darwin stood there, realizing what he had just done. He just gave his research paper, the one that he had worked so hard on in the past week, to someone else. Then again, it was Gumball. He was close to failing class. Darwin knew how much he wanted to pass. Even when he was failing, he could see how much he studied for. Seeing him happy was always something that made Darwin happy. Except, he didn’t feel happy this time, something in his gut was telling him something was wrong. It’s just, he didn’t know what. 

 

Later that day, Darwin walked into history class. He had been debating on whether or not he should even show up, but he knew skipping class wasn’t the answer. He just couldn’t stand the idea of going to class and facing the fact that he had nothing to turn in. Darwin walked over and took his seat. Gumball was getting his stuff ready when he saw Darwin sit in the seat next to him. 

“Hey,” Gumball said. 

“Hey,” Darwin said, not taking his eye off the desk. Gumball noticed something was off. 

“Are you okay?” Gumball asked. Darwin looked up from his desk.

“Oh yeah!” Darwin said, brushing off whatever fear he had. He then pretended to yawn. “Just a little tired.”

Gumball wasn’t entirely convinced, but he figured that whatever problem Darwin had wasn’t very serious. “Oh,” Gumball said. “Well, thanks again for the report, it means a lot,” Darwin noticed the sincere smile on his face. He remembered how panicked Gumball was when he didn’t have a paper to turn in. The fact that he was able to take away that fear made him feel just a bit better.

“No problem buddy,” He said. 

 

The bell rang and their teacher, Ms. Simian, walked inside.

“Good morning students,” She said in her usual unenthusiastic tone. “I hope everyone did the reports because it’s time to turn them in.” 

Of course, that’s the first thing she asks for, Darwin said to himself. He crossed his arms slumped in his seats, not making eye contact with anyone around him. Everyone began passing in their report to the front of the class. Darwin put his head on his desk. He didn’t want anyone to notice that he had nothing to turn in. From the corner of his eye, he could see Gumball turn in his report. Darwin noticed how happy and relieved he was when he turned it in and it made him happy in a way. At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel bad. He had no idea why, though. He thought he was doing the right thing. The teacher grabbed the pile of reports.

“Wow,” Ms. Simian began “Looks like you all worked hard one these reports,” Everyone nodded their heads while Darwin, who still had his head on his desk, just shrugged his shoulders. 

“Well, I guess no one would mind if we had a surprise test,” She said, laughing loudly. Everyone groaned. It shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone that she would give them a pop quiz, but it caught Gumball off guard. He felt his heart race, he frantically looked around. He could see everyone, including Darwin, taking out a pencil and paper for the quiz.

“A test? I’m not ready for a test.” Gumball stuttered. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Darwin said, trying to calm him down. By his tone, you could tell he was completely done with today. “You’ll be fine,” 

Ms. Simian began passing out the tests. When Gumball received the test, he looked through it quickly. I don’t know any of these, Gumball said to himself. 

“You may now begin,” Ms. Simian said as she sat down at her desk. Gumball knew he was in trouble. He looked around the room. He could see everyone looking down at their papers. From what it seems, everyone was doing okay. He looked over to his teacher’s desk. She was looking down at her desk, grading some papers. Gumball may have turned in his report, but he knew it wouldn’t matter if he bombed this test. He looked over to Darwin. He seemed to know what he was doing. He was always good at doing tests. That’s when he got a great idea, it was risky, but he knew that it was worth it. He looked over to Ms. Simian, making sure she wasn’t looking and then leaned over to Darwin. 

“Can you help?” Gumball asked, whispering. He quickly looked over to Ms. Simian to see if she wasn’t looking. Sure enough, she was still looking down at her desk. Darwin was shocked. He didn’t understand why Gumball would ask for help when he knew he could get in trouble. 

“We’ll get in trouble,” Darwin said, not taking his eyes off his paper. 

“Please,” Gumball asked again. Darwin, who was still looking down on his test, could hear the desperation in his voice. How could he say no to helping his brother? He knew that if he didn’t help him and Gumball would fail, that it would be all his fault. Darwin let out a small sigh and looked over at his teacher and then back at Gumball.

“Okay,” Darwin whispered. He quietly shifted his paper over to Gumball. Just enough so he could see the answers. Gumball lifted his head to make sure no one was watching and then began writing down the answers that he saw. Everything was fine until he heard someone shout “Are you guy’s cheating!?” Gumball and Darwin stopped dead in their tracks and looked to the front of the class. There they saw Ms. Simian, looking over at them, outraged. Gumball and Darwin straightened their backs and looked at their own individual papers, making it seem that they weren’t copying each paper but the damage was done. 

Gumball blurted out “It wasn’t me!” Darwin turned to Gumball, shocked by what he heard. Gumball looked over to Darwin with a pleading face. Darwin knew exactly what he meant and in order not to fail, Darwin had to take the blame. Without giving it a second thought, Darwin nodded his head.

“Yeah it was me,” Darwin said. 

“Well I must say, I’m very disappointed,” Ms. Simian said. She pointed her hand to the door. “To the principal’s office, NOW!” With everyone’s eyes on him, Darwin got up from his seat and walked to the principal’s office. 

 

After school, Gumball and Darwin were talking in the hallway, ready to go home. Darwin tried to get his mind off the meeting he had with the principal. He had detention for two weeks and failed his test. To top it all off, he had no report to turn in that day and he knew that it would make a dramatic change in his grade. The thing that scared him the most was facing his mom. He knew that she wouldn’t be happy to find out what happened that day. He was listening to Gumball talk about something when he looked over and saw his crush. Her name was Christina and she had just moved to the school the month before. She was a lion with darkish brunette hair, and had on a plain white t-shirt and ripped jeans. Darwin noticed her when she walked into his math class and at that moment, he was head over heels in love. She seemed different from the other girls and Darwin was drawn into that. However, he hadn’t gotten the courage to go up and talk to her yet. Gumball was still talking when he noticed that Darwin seemed to not pay attention. Darwin had his turned to the right and had a smug grin on his face. Like he was in another world. 

“What’s up dude?” Gumball asked, watching Darwin continuing to stare at another direction. Darwin whipped his head back at Gumball. He didn’t want to tell him that he saw Christina. He had mentioned her to him, but he didn’t go into much detail. 

Darwin smiled, acting like he wasn’t distracted at all. “Nothing,” Gumball looked over to the direction Darwin was staring at and saw the Christina. That’s when it clicked. Gumball remembered Darwin had mentioned that he had a crush on a new girl, but he had no idea what she looked like until then. He was always curious and wanted to see her with his own eyes. 

“Is that the girl you have a crush on?” Gumball asked.

Darwin blushed. “No.” Darwin wasn’t ever good at lying. Judging by the obvious lie Gumball received from Darwin, it was her. Darwin quickly got a fluttery feeling in his stomach and looked back at Christina but subtly, so she wouldn’t notice that he was staring. She was going through her locker, putting away her books. 

“You should go talk to her,” Gumball said. Darwin was hesitant. He had never really spoken to her and he didn’t want to embarrass himself. He’d always got nervous when he just thought of her, he couldn’t imagine what he’d do if he ever actually said a word to her. 

“Nah, I don’t even think she knows I exist,” Darwin said, looking down at his shoes. He had a slight sadness in his voice. Darwin was never the cool guy and he knew that. Inside, he felt like he wasn’t good enough to talk to her, he didn’t want to admit it, though. Gumball rolled his eyes and began pushing him towards her.

“You’ll be fine,” Gumball insisted. Darwin tried fighting him, but every time he resisted, Gumball would push harder. Christina turned around from her locker and saw noticed Gumball and Darwin coming in her direction. The moment Darwin saw Christina turn around, he stopped struggling and pushed Gumball off of him. He slowly walked up to her. Christina smiled.

“Hi,” Christina said. 

“Hi,” Darwin stuttered. Darwin didn’t know what to say. He had never been so close to her before. He couldn’t stop staring at her. He noticed her eyes straight away. They were shiny and hazel. He could see his reflection through them. Her hair, her eyes, everything, was beautiful. 

“Sooo”, Christina said. Darwin was quickly snapped out of his thoughts. He blinked and looked over at her again. He saw that she had a confused look. He realized he hadn’t said anything in a good while. Ah man, he thought to himself, this isn’t the way he wanted to have a conversation with her. 

“Uh sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” Darwin said, rubbing the back of his head. He could feel himself start to sweat and he hoped she wouldn’t notice. “It’s just you’re so pretty,” Darwin said, but he quickly regretted. He tried to take it back. “I mean, uh” Darwin stood frozen. After 10 seconds, Darwin quickly said “never mind” and ran outside. Gumball watched in horror as he saw his brother run. He then looked over to Christina, still looking puzzled.

“Is he okay?” Christina asked, concerned. 

“Oh yeah,” Gumball said, playing it off. “He’s just really shy, he’s really a nice guy, well I better go,” Gumball said. He then left and followed Darwin outside. He found him sitting on a bench, with his head in his hands.

“Are you ready to go home?” Gumball said. Darwin looked up and, without a word, nodded his head. They both started walking home. Their walk home started out quietly, Darwin just kept on thinking about how much he screwed up today. First, he didn’t have the assignment to turn in, then he got in trouble and failed his test and now he embarrassed himself in front of his crush. He couldn’t that moment out of his head. It kept replaying over and over again. The way he almost admitted he had a crush on her, how he froze and her face when he ran. 

“You okay?’ Gumball asked. 

“Yeah, I just don’t feel like talking,” Darwin said. 

“Oh well, do you want to hear about my day?” Gumball said, a slight excitement in his voice. 

“Sure,” Darwin said, unenthusiastic. Gumball began talking about how “awesome” his day while Darwin silently walked. He tried to listen to Gumball, he really did, but he just couldn’t. 

“Man will he ever shut up?” 

Darwin stopped and looked around. Gumball noticed Darwin wasn’t next to him and stopped as well. He turned around and saw Darwin a couple of feet behind him. 

“What happened?” Gumball asked. Darwin just shook his head and ran over to Gumball.

“Nothing,” He said. They then continued walking.

Hope you enjoyed! Please review! Hope you guys have an awesome Easter!

 

PEACE ON THE STREEETS SAAAN!


	2. Chapter 2

Hey Everyone! Here’s the new chapter!! 

After listening to Gumball gloat about his day, Darwin was relieved when they finally made it home. He opened the door, put his backpack down and took in a deep breath and sighed. “It feels so good to be home.” His happiness soon vanished when he saw his mother come out of the kitchen and into the living room.

“Darwin, I got an interesting phone call today,” Nicole fumed, putting an emphasis on the word interesting. Darwin quickly turned to where he thought Gumball was, but he was nowhere to be found. Darwin turned back to his angry mother. “Well?” Nicole asked impatiently. 

Darwin sighed. “I’m sorry Mrs. Mom,”

“Is that it? You’re sorry?!” Nicole said, the volume of her voice was rising. 

Darwin froze. He didn’t know what else to say. He wasn’t even the one who cheated. Despite him knowing he had to face his mom, he was unprepared. “Um, I’m really sorry?” Darwin muttered. 

Nicole shook her head. “I’m so disappointed in you. You’re grounded for a month.” Darwin sighed and looked down. He slowly nodded his head and walked up the stairs. He walks into his room and leaps onto Gumball’s bed. The events of today fresh in his memory. Playing over and over again like some sick movie. Him giving up his assignment, taking the blame for the cheating incident and the fact that his grade most likely dropped because of those events. For some weird reason, the thing that bothered him the most about his day was the fact that he embarrassed himself because of the conversation he had with Christina. The whole reason he didn’t want to talk to her in the first place was because he was afraid that he would embarrass himself and that’s exactly what happened. The conversation was playing over and over again as he felt tears falling from his eyes. 

Darwin wiped away the tears that were falling from his cheeks. “How did this happen?’ He mumbled to himself. 

“Because you’re way too nice.” 

Darwin sat up from the bed and looked around the room. No one was there, but... he heard something, he swore he did. He shook his head and blamed it on his overactive imagination. He put his head back on the pillow. 

“No one is even here,” Darwin thought. 

“What do you mean, no one?” Darwin sat back up. The voice was clearer, he heard it, this time, he knew he did. It was the same voice he heard before, except the tone of the voice sounded different. As if it was offended that he refused to acknowledge his existence. He was scared at first, but he quickly collected himself. He took a deep breath and asked: “Who’s there?”

“You really don’t know,” The voice said. The tone of the voice now sounded curious with a hint of shock. It didn’t make any sense. Darwin was in the room alone. He looked around once more. Darwin thought about where he could be hearing the voice. The Voice was clear enough for him to hear, as if it was right next to him, but he was alone in the room. If it’s not coming around him... is it coming from inside him? Then it hit him. 

“Are you in my head?’ Darwin asked. He knew it was a stupid question and he didn’t know what kind of answer he would get but at this point, he was desperate. 

“You guessed it.” The voice said. It seemed relieved that he finally connected the dots. 

“Who are you?”

“I’m your conscious.” The Voice answered. Darwin felt his heart skip a beat. He never heard that voice before, was it really his conscious? He always felt his conscious right before he was going to do something he knew was wrong, but he had never heard it speak to him. Questions were running through his mind. Was this normal? Did a conscious speak to you once you get to a certain age? Not knowing what to say next, he said the first thing that came into his mind. “What are you doing?” 

“What am I doing?” The Voice replied. “What are you doing? You keep letting people take advantage of you,” The voice accused him. Darwin crossed his arms and shook his head. He wondered where the voice would get such a stupid idea. 

“No I don’t,” Darwin said, chuckling. 

“Yes, you do” The Voice began, “First it was the assignment, then you got in trouble for cheating. If you would have just said no, you wouldn’t be in trouble and sulking in your room.” Darwin slumped on the bed. He did have a point. A lot of the problems he faced today would have been stopped if he just said no, he quickly shook off his statement. 

“So I didn’t say no today, it isn’t a huge deal,” Darwin said. 

“Uh, it is,” The voice continued. “ This isn’t the first time you’ve done this, you always let people take advantage of you and it has to end.” Darwin didn’t want to admit it, but he had a point. For years, he’s always been afraid to say no. Whether it was doing stupid with Gumball or doing a favor for someone, he almost always said yes. 

“You’re right, people do take advantage of me,” He said, sadness could be heard in his voice. “What should I do?”

“The answer is simple,” The voice said. “Just stop doing favors for everyone.” 

Darwin was hesitant. “But what if I hurt their feelings?” Darwin didn’t like the idea of intentionally hurting anyone’s feelings. 

“So what?” The Voice remarked, “You are way more important than them.”

The Voice was right, Darwin needed to start putting himself first. He was ready to make a change and to start standing up for himself. “You’re right, I’m going to stop doing favors for everybody.” 

Hope you guys enjoyed!!! PLEASE PLEASE review and tell me what you guys think ♥♥ Thanks for reading ♥

PEACE ON THE STREEETS SAAAN!!


	3. Chapter 3

Hey Guys!! Sorry for taking so long to upload this chapter. Long story short, I was working on school work. I had two 5 page essays that was due and I just put all my time on that. Thanks for your patience, here’s the new chapter. :)

 

Darwin was on his way to school, ready to put yesterday behind him. Thanks to the advice he had gotten from his conscience, he realized he needed to stop being a pushover. Even though he knew it may be difficult, it was the best thing to do, but he was nervous. Could he do it? He had his doubts, but he didn’t try to think about them. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone walking up behind him. He turned around to see Gumball running to catch up to him. 

“Hey,” Darwin said, smiling. Gumball was taken back with how happy Darwin seemed to be. He was expecting him to be angry or even sad, but he was happy, it relieved him. 

“Listen,” Gumball began, putting his hands in his pockets. “I just wanted to say sorry for yesterday, I shouldn’t have done that,” Gumball said. He couldn’t stop feeling guilty since yesterday. He never meant to hurt his brother and the fact that he did what he did was selfish. When heard about Darwin’s punishment, he reminded himself that it should have been him that should be receiving his punishment. To his surprise, Darwin smiled. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Darwin said as he continued walking, his happy attitude unchanged. Gumball was shocked, he wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction, he was expecting Darwin to go off, and he wouldn’t blame him if he did. He deserved it. Usually, Gumball would be relieved if he didn’t get in trouble for something he did wrong, but this time, he wasn’t. He was worried. This wasn’t the way Darwin always acted. 

“Are you okay?” Gumball asked concern could be heard in his voice. 

“Yeah,” Darwin said as he continued walking, still happy as can be. Completely ignoring Gumball’s concern. “Why?”

“Well, you seem kind of” Gumball paused, trying to find the right word, “different.” 

“Well..yeah, I am different, I decided to make a change,” Darwin said, proudly. Gumball was confused by that statement. He didn’t really know what that meant. 

“What kind of change?” Gumball asked, curiously. 

“I decided to stop doing favors for everybody,” Darwin stated. The moment he finished that sentence, Darwin was met with an unexpected response. Gumball busted out laughing. Instead of being congratulated or receiving some kind of support, he was met with laughter. Darwin was hurt, to say the least. Darwin stopped walking and stared at Gumball as he continued to laugh. 

“Why are you laughing?” Darwin muttered. His face full of sorrow. Gumball quickly caught himself and cleared his throat. 

“Oh nothing,” Gumball said, he continued to walk but noticed Darwin wasn’t walking with him. He turned to see Darwin at the same spot, looking down at the ground, hurt. Gumball realized what he’ done.

“You don’t think I could do it, can you?” Darwin whimpered, not taking his eyes off the ground. Gumball walked over to him.

“Look buddy...” Gumball began but Darwin quickly interrupted him.

“You don’t think I can do it,” Darwin said, his voice louder. To Darwin, it was more than to stop doing favors for everyone. To him, it meant that Gumball didn’t believe in him. Gumball noticed how serious Darwin looked and he tried to retrace his steps. 

“Look, I didn’t mean to offend you, it’s just you were never good at saying no.” Gumball tried to explain. 

“Did you hear him?” Darwin’s conscience said. “He doesn’t believe that you can do it, what kind of brother is that?” Darwin realized his conscience was right. If Gumball really was his brother, he would at least have more faith in him. Darwin’s sadness faded, and anger took its place. 

“You know, I can do it and guess what?! I DON’T NEED ANY OF YOUR HELP!!!” Darwin yelled. Gumball was shocked by Darwin’s attitude change. Sure, Darwin had his anger issues from time to time, but he never blew up like this. Gumball was now more concerned than ever before. 

“Are you okay?’ Gumball asked, inching closer to Darwin as if he wanted to give him a small hug. “I didn’t mean to offend you, I’m really sorry.” 

“Forget it.” Was all Darwin could say before he walked away on his own, leaving Gumball by himself.

“You don’t need him,” The voice said. Darwin realized he was right. He didn’t need Gumball’s help. He can do it all on his own. 

 

Later that day, Darwin was in the cafeteria during lunch time, in line ready to receive his plate of food. He was starving and ready to finally eat. The cafeteria was full of loud talking from his classmates. Some were on the lunch tables, already eating and talking to their peers while others waited in the line with him. Soon the doors to the cafeteria swung open and the school bully, Jamie, marched in. The conversations from people begun to die down as Jamie walked by them. Everyone knew the drill, don’t talk to her or even look directly at her unless she talks to you first. Darwin did the same thing, as soon as she came in, he looked at a different direction as if not noticing she had just walked by. Jamie walked over to the back of the line and reached into her pocket, discovering she didn’t have her wallet with her. 

“Dang it,” She said loudly, stomping her heavy boot on the ground beneath her. Her sudden outburst caused the people around her to flinch. Jamie knew that the only way for her to get lunch is if she borrowed the money from someone, but she didn’t know who. She looked around the room, waiting to see who her next victim was going to be. Her eyes locked on Darwin. 

Perfect. She thought. She slowly began walking over to him. Darwin didn’t notice her right away, as he was paying attention to the people in front of him. The moment he saw her next to him, he turned away again, pretending to pay attention to whatever was in that direction. 

Why on earth is she standing here for? Darwin thought. 

“Hey, I need money,” Jamie said. Darwin continued to look in the other direction, pretending to not have heard her. Hoping she was talking to someone else, anyone but him.

“Did you hear what I just said!?” Jamie snapped. She inched closer to Darwin’s face. Darwin was on full alert now. 

“Oh sorry,” Darwin said, rubbing the back of his head, now looking towards Jamie’s direction. He let out a small chuckle. “I didn’t know you were talking to me,” His eyes darted to his left, avoiding eye contact with her. 

“Of course, I was talking to you!” Jamie said, irritated. Darwin’s stomach turned. His heart was beating so fast that he thought she could hear it. 

“Now give me your money!” Jamie said, sticking her hand out, ready to receive the cash she so desperately wanted. Darwin sighed. He was ready to give up his money when he heard the voice say. “Tell her no! It’s your money”

“I cant’ do that,” Darwin said unsurely to the voice. “Do you know what she would do to me if I say no?”

“Do it!” The voice demanded. Darwin sighed. He finally made eye contact with Jamie. Her eyes were full of anger and hatred. It actually made him feel sympathy for her. He didn’t know why Jamie was like this, he thought about giving her the money, so that way, at least she won’t be so mad, but he knew what he had to do. He took a deep breath and let out a simple word. “No” Everyone around them who were listening was shocked, especially Jamie. She balled her hands into fists.

“What did you say?” Jamie said, shoving her face only a couple inches away from Darwin’s. However, he showed no emotion, which surprised Jamie. 

“I said no,” Darwin said, pushing Jamie away from his face. Everyone around them gasped. They had never seen this side of Darwin before. 

“No one says no to me,” Jamie said. She lifted the sleeve to her t-shirt, getting ready to punch at any time. This didn’t effect Darwin, who still didn’t show any sign of emotion. 

“Well I just, did,” Darwin said, sternly. “And if you ever bother me again, I’ll have a nice little conversation with your mom.” Everyone around them gasped. They all knew that Jamie was afraid of her mother, but no one had the guts to threaten her like that. Jamie backed away.

“Fine” Jamie said as she left, defeated. 

 

Darwin was walking outside of the school, ready to go home. He had just come out of detention and he was relieved that it was finally over. However, he wasn’t exactly excited to go home either since he was still in trouble with his mom, but he’d rather be at home then spend it in a classroom, watching the time slip away. He knew he had to get home soon or else his mom would kill him. Even though he was still in trouble at home and at school, he didn’t let it dampen the good mood he was in. For the first time since he could remember, he finally stood up for himself. He knew he couldn’t do it without his conscience. He was kind of hesitant of listing to him but in the end, he was glad he did. As he was walking down the steps, he heard someone call his name. He turned to see that it was Christina, who was sitting on a bench. 

“Hey, Darwin!” She yelled over at him. His heart jumped and fluttered when he realized that she knew his name. He cleared his throat and walked over to her. 

“Hey, how are you? “ Darwin asked, trying to remain normal as possible. He wanted to redeem himself after the last time he spoke to her. 

“I’m good” She responded. She then ushered for him to sit next to her. “Here sit.” Darwin nodded his head and sat down. 

“So Christina-” Darwin began but she quickly interrupted him. “Please don’t call me that,” She said with a laugh. “Just call me Chrissy, that’s what everyone calls me,” Darwin smiled, he loved that she was comfortable enough to let him use her nickname. He loved the way it sounded, short but sweet. 

“So Chrissy” Darwin began. “Why are you here so late?” Seeing Chrissy here after school so late caught him off guard, usually, no one was here at this time except for a couple of teachers or people who had to stay for detention, like himself. 

“Oh, my parents come from work late so sometimes I have to wait for them here to pick me up,” Chrissy explained. “What about you?” 

“Oh, I got out of detention,” Darwin said, flatly. The memories of why he was there in the first place came flooding back. He hoped she wouldn’t ask why because he really didn’t feel like explaining it. He barely even liked thinking about it. Every time he did, he got angry. The sadness he first felt when it happened went away and anger was taking its place. It wasn’t a lot of anger but still, he was angry. Angry that he gave away his paper, angry that he didn’t say no, angry at everything about the situation. He usually didn’t let small things like this get to him but this time? This time, it got under his skin. He quickly tried to shake off his anger. He didn’t want to look like he was in a bad mood in front of Chrissy. 

“That sucks,” Chrissy said, she quickly changed the subject. “I liked what you did today during lunch.” She said in a happier tone. Darwin was shocked and happy that she saw.

“Really?” He asked in disbelief. Happiness creeping up behind him.

“Yeah, I think it’s great that you stood up for yourself like that.” Darwin gave her a smile. He then glanced back at her hazel eyes. He could see his reflection in them, they were so shiny and beautiful. He could stare at them all day.

“Thanks,” He said, still looking into her eyes. 

She smiled back. “No problem”

Darwin couldn’t believe what was happening in front of him. Just yesterday, he literally made a fool of himself in front of her and now he was having a normal conversation. He couldn’t believe it. Everything was falling into place like it should be. Nothing could ruin this moment. Darwin then noticed a car pull up across the street. Chrissy got up from the bench.

“Sorry I have to go that’s my ride,” Chrissy said as she grabbed her things. “My parents always pick me up at 5:30” Darwin jumped from his seat. He was supposed to be home by 5:00. 

“I’m sorry, I have to go, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Darwin said as he took off running. Chrissy waved a confused goodbye as Darwin disappeared from her sight. He ran back to his house as fast as he could. Once he made it in front of his house, he stopped in front of the door and collected himself. He was out of breath since he ran so fast. Once he had enough oxygen in his lungs, he slowly opened the door. He was praying that Nicole was upstairs or lost track of time like himself. He walked into the living room with no one in sight. He breathed a sigh of relief but the feeling quickly faded when he saw Nicole come out of the kitchen, furious.

“Where have you been?” She asked placing her hands on her hips, her foot violently tapping the carpet. Darwin could feel the oxygen from his lungs quickly fade out again. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. He quickly took a couple of deep breaths before answering.

“I just lost track of time,” Darwin said. He knew it wasn’t the best answer, but it was the truth. He then tried to go upstairs but Nicole blocked his exit. 

“Doing what?” Nicole said behind clenched teeth, the volume of her voice rising. “What could you have possibly been doing instead of coming home on time.” Talking to Christina. Darwin thought.

“Tell her that, tell her that you were talking to your crush, that’s way more important than being at home.” His conscience said. 

“I can’t tell her that! That will make her even angrier.” Darwin said to his conscience. 

“Well!” Nicole said, impatiently waiting for his answer. Darwin realized that he hadn’t said a word for a couple of minutes. That’s when it happened. Darwin wasn’t prepared for what happened next. He wasn’t expecting it. 

“It’s none of your business where I am!!” Darwin shouted. Darwin couldn’t believe it. He was caught off guard. He never spoke to anyone like that. He couldn’t help it, though, he was so angry. 

“What did you just say to me?” Nicole said. 

“Nothing,” Darwin said looking down at his shoes, tears forming in his eyes. 

“Don’t ever talk back to me again!” Nicole stated. “Now GO TO YOUR ROOM!!”

Without looking up, Darwin nodded his head and slowly walked up the stairs. He could feel Nicole’s eyes watching him as he turned the corner and into the hallway. Once he entered the room and closed the door behind him, he leaped onto his bed and let out all his tears. Everything that went right today didn’t matter. It was all ruined. 

“Why did you let her walk all over you like that?” The voice asked. “No one one should talk to you in that way.” Darwin shrugged. “She’s my mom.” He said as he wiped his tears. That’s when the voice hit him with a hard question. 

“Does she love you?” The voice asked. He couldn’t believe that his conscience would ask such a stupid question. 

“Of course, she does” Darwin insisted. 

“Why does she treat you that way then?” The voice asked, unconvinced. “If she did love you then she would have believed you.” Darwin couldn’t believe it. The voice was right. It hit him like a ton of bricks. Darwin shook his head in disbelief. 

“If your own family loved you, they wouldn’t treat you this way,” The voice explained. “First, it was you brother stealing all you work and getting you in trouble, then he laughed at you, now your own mother didn’t believe where you were.” The voice was completely right. If his family did love him, they wouldn’t have treated him this way.

“You need to stop doing favors for your family, if they actually loved you, they would show it better,” The voice said. 

“You’re right,” Darwin said. He was ready to take a stand against his family, and for the first time in his life, he was ready to take a stand for himself. 

 

Hope you guys enjoyed!! PLEASE PLEASE review! It’s greatly appreciated :)

PEACE ON THE STREEEETS SAAAN


	4. Chapter 4

Hey Guys!!! Here’s the new chapter!!!

It was morning and the Watterson family were all gathered around the dinner table eating breakfast, getting ready to start a brand new day. However, a family member was missing and it did not take long for all of them to notice. 

“Where’s Darwin?” Nicole asked impatiently, her breakfast still left untouched. She was too angry to eat. She was still upset over what had happened between Darwin and her the day before. He running late to go to school was not helping her temper. 

“He’s upstairs still getting ready” Anais answered casually as she continued eating. 

Gumball placed his spoon down on the table. “Speaking of Darwin” He began. He saw the opportunity to speak about Darwin and took it. “Has anyone noticed that Darwin seems to be a little...?” Gumball paused as he struggled to find the right word. “Off?” The thoughts of what happened the day before were still fresh in his mind. After Gumball made the mistake of doubting Darwin that he could defend himself, Darwin has not spoken one word to Gumball since. He only ever gave him dirty looks and glances. Even when Gumball tried to congratulate him for standing up for himself at the cafeteria the day before, it was received with a negative response. While Darwin has had problems with his anger in the past, he was never the type to hold a grudge, that’s what confused him. Gumball felt like maybe he was overreacting, or maybe not. He wanted to make sure that he wasn’t the only person feeling this way, which was why he was asking his family. 

“What do you mean?” Anais asked. She seemed intrigued by what Gumball had said. She was always the observant type, always the first person to notice something that was wrong. Usually, Gumball got annoyed with that but today he felt relieved. He knew that if something was really off, she would be the first person to notice. 

“Well I was just talking to him yesterday and he just sort of snapped at me,” Gumball explained, reminiscing about the day before. Before Anais could speak, they saw Darwin coming down the stairs. The moment Anais and Gumball saw him, they put their heads down and continued eating, pretending like they were not just talking about him moments before. Darwin entered the dining room and took a seat in the empty chair at the table.

“Morning,” Darwin said, yawning. He rubbed his tired eyes and quickly took notice of everyone staring at him. “What?” He asked, curiously. 

“Where have you been?” Nicole asked. Darwin simply shrugged his shoulders.

“Upstairs, where else would I be? The moon.” Darwin said, sarcastically. Gumball, Anais, and Richard had to stifle a giggle. They knew that it wasn’t right for Darwin to be rude to Nicole that way, but they couldn’t help but think Darwin’s answer and the tone he used were hilarious. Nicole ignored the rest of her family’s smirks and focused her attention on Darwin. 

“I thought I told you to never talk to me like that” Nicole got up from her seat and walked over to where Darwin was seated. Standing in front of him, she stated. “Now I want you to apologize to me right now!” The room was silent as everyone stared over to Darwin, waiting to see what he was going to say next. Darwin looked around and saw all their eyes on him. He could feel his cheeks begin to burn. He darted his eyes to the other direction, away from everyone else. He hated it when people stared at him.

Darwin rolled his eyes and sighed. “I’m Sorry,”

“For?”

Darwin looked down at his shoes, avoiding all eye contact. “For answering you in an inappropriate tone.”

Despite not looking at her when apologizing, Nicole seemed pleased with his response. “Good,” Nicole said as she walked back to her seat. After Nicole sat down on her seat, everyone continued what they were doing before Darwin arrived. Richard began speaking to Nicole about events that had happened to him the day before while Gumball and Anais spoke about how they were doing in school. It was as if nothing had happened. Darwin stayed in the same position, staring down on the ground. No one saying one word to him. It was as if he didn’t exist. Was that all he was to them? Someone who they can pick on whenever they wanted? Nicole cornered him into apologizing, and for what? Standing up for himself? The worst part for Darwin was that no one stood up for him. 

The words that his voice had told him the day before echoed in his head. “If your own family loved you, they wouldn’t treat you this way,” 

The voice was right. If my family did care about me, they wouldn’t be against me like this. Darwin thought. Rage began bubbling up inside him. Out of nowhere, Darwin smacked his fist on the table, sending out a loud noise that sent all the dishware to vibrate for a couple of seconds. Everyone in the table sat still, processing what had just happened. With all eyes on him, Darwin got up from where he was sitting and walked out of the house, not saying one word.

“Did you see that?” Gumball asked. Anais nodded her head, shocked about what she had just seen. Gumball didn’t know why Darwin is acting this way, but he knows that something’s wrong with him, and he’s going to get to the bottom of it. 

Darwin continued walking by himself when he heard his conscience begin to speak. “Why did you apologize to your mom? You didn’t do anything wrong! 

“I know right!” Darwin said as he continued walking. “I didn’t do anything wrong but yet she embarrassed me in front of everyone in the house!” 

“It’s like they’re trying to run and control your whole entire life, it’s yours, not theirs.” The voice continued.

“You’re right! It’s my life” Darwin shouted. Rage was still running through his body. He didn’t know where all this anger was coming from and at this point, he didn’t care. 

“For my whole life, they have been trying to control my life and I’ve had enough!” Darwin said. “I’m going to make them back off.”

 

It was lunch time and Darwin had just gotten out of line with his tray of food. He took a seat at an empty table. He didn’t really feel like sitting with anyone today and he was happy to finally get some alone time. Soon, Gumball walked into the cafeteria and began scanning the room for Darwin, he finally found him sitting by himself at a table in the corner of the cafeteria. For some reason, the sight of Darwin eating by himself made Gumball sad. Although, he did look like he was in a good mood, or at least, in a better mood than this morning. He wondered how long that would last. He took a deep breath and began walking over to his table with his tray of food. 

“Hey!” Gumball said cheerfully as he sat down next to Darwin. 

Darwin slumped in his seat, he was hoping that he could finally have some alone time, but he decided to be polite and not tell Gumball to go away, even though he really wanted too. “Hey,” 

Relief came through Gumball’s body. Maybe he was finally back to normal. Gumball thought. Their conversation soon turned into silence as Darwin continued eating. Gumball looked down onto his tray of food. His stomach turned as he saw what today meal is. He had always hated the food the school served. His appetite vanished and he pushed the tray away from. He turned to Darwin, who continued eating and looking straight ahead as if he was thinking about something. Gumball began tapping the table with his fingers, waiting for this awkward silence to end. He finally realized that the only way to begin a conversation was if he was going to speak up first. 

“Sooo, what have you been up to?” Gumball asked. Internally he was face palming himself. What kind of question is that? He thought to himself. 

Darwin shrugged. “Nothing much? And you?

“Same,” Gumball said, chuckling. “Pretty boring huh?” Darwin showed no emotion to Gumball’s response as he continued eating. Gumball sighed. This conversation was going nowhere but he decided to try again. 

“Sooo, have you been feeling okay?” Gumball asked.

Darwin tilted his head. “What do you mean?” 

“Well,” Gumball began. “I don’t know, you just seem kind of off.....” 

Darwin threw his head back and groaned. So that’s why Gumball was speaking to him, he wanted to make sure that everything was “okay.”

“I’m fine” Darwin snapped. He couldn’t understand why Gumball was so worried. He was fine. 

Gumball could feel a lump in his throat begin to form, it took all his strength to choke out his next sentence. “Well, you don’t need to get angry, I just wanted to make sure that you’re okay.” 

“Why?” Darwin asked.

“Because I’m worried about you,” Gumball whimpered, tears forming in his eyes. He quickly rubbed them, he didn’t want Darwin to notice. 

Darwin crossed his arms in amusement. “Oh wow, now you care?”

“What do you mean?” Gumball asked. Darwin grabbed Gumball by his T-shirt and pulled him so close to his face until it was only a few inches apart. 

“I mean that you always take advantage of me and news flash, I’m not your slave anymore” Darwin hissed. Gumball released himself from Darwin’s clutch and backed way, fear sweeping over him. Darwin never dared to grab him like that. Heck, he had never grabbed anyone like that. All Gumball wanted to do was grab Darwin and hug him and tell him that everything was going to be okay, he hated seeing him this way. 

“Darwin, please calm down,” Gumball whispered.

“I am calm!” Darwin yelled. Everyone around the cafeteria turned and looked in his direction. Most were staring at him in confusion. Gumball tried to catch his breath. Darwin yelling like that startled him and all the air in his lungs just disappeared. With all eyes on him, Darwin grabbed his stuff and left the cafeteria, leaving a stunned Gumball by himself. Darwin exited the cafeteria and began walking in the hallways. All the hallways were vacant since everyone was in the cafeteria. Darwin liked the silence of the hallways compared to the cafeteria but he knew he would get in trouble if he stayed here since no one was allowed in the hallways during lunch. Since he didn’t want to back in the cafeteria, he decided to blow off steam and head into the library. He walked into the library and looked around. He saw some people on the computers, doing homework while others were walking around the bookshelves, checking out the stash of books available to read. Darwin didn’t feel like using the computer or read so he decided to sit to some of the tables in the middle of the library. He walked over to where the tables were located and to his surprise, he sees Chrissy, sitting by herself. It looked like she was doing homework. He wondered why she would be by herself here and not in the cafeteria like everyone else. He took a deep breath and walked over to her. 

“Hey,” Darwin said.

Chrissy looked up from her homework, the moment she saw Darwin a warm smile spread across her face, “Hey,” 

“Why are you in here?” Darwin asked curiously. “Why aren’t you eating lunch in the cafeteria like everyone else?” 

Chrissy’s smile faded. “Oh, I have nowhere to sit in the cafeteria, I don’t really know anyone here...” She looked down at the papers in front of her as if embarrassed about what she had just said and Darwin noticed. He felt sad, he didn’t know that she didn’t have any friends. I mean, of course, he knew that she was new to the school, but he thought that she had already made at least a couple of friends by now. She seemed like she was that type of person who would be friends with anyone, super outgoing and confident. That was one of the reasons why he began falling for her in the first place. 

After a few moments, Darwin spoke. “I’m sorry about that,” 

Chrissy shrugged and let out a small chuckle, still looking down at her papers. “Don’t worry about it,” 

Darwin paused for a moment as if thinking about what to say next. He then sat down in the seat next to her. “Well, I’ll hang out with you,”

Chrissy’s smile returned as she looked over to Darwin. “Really?” 

Seeing Chrissy look over to him and smile sent a warm feeling through his body. Darwin nodded. “Yeah of course,”

“Thanks,” Chrissy said. 

“No Problem”

Both Darwin and Chrissy stared into each other's eyes for a moment, at a loss for words. It was as if something clicked inside them. After a couple of moments, Chrissy begins to shake her head, as if embarrassed for taking a long pause, Darwin did the same thing.

“So,” Chrissy began, trying to fill in the awkward silence, “how have you been?” 

Darwin shrugged. “I’ve been okay I guess”

Chrissy noticed the way Darwin’s demeanor changed when she asked the question. “What’s wrong?” 

“Oh, It’s just my family,” Darwin said as he waved his fin through the air, acting like it was an everyday thing. 

“Oh family, I know how that feels,” Chrissy said as she playfully rolled her eyes. “What’s the problem?”

“I guess,” Darwin began hesitantly. “I always feel like I’m being taken advantage of, as if, I don’t know” Darwin sighed. “I always feel like the last place in my family, especially compared to my brother and sister.”

“Don’t worry about it, families are like that” Chrissy said. “I’m sure they love you.”

Darwin smiled, he didn’t know why but her talking to him was actually working. Something about her voice was soothing. He then grew curious. “Do you have any siblings?” 

Chrissy sat back on her seat. “No, I’m an only child,” 

Darwin put his head down on his desk. “Lucky,” He said. 

Chrissy chuckled. “I don’t know, I think you should consider yourself lucky, I have to deal with my parents all the time and sometimes I wished I had a sibling to back me up” 

Darwin and Chrissy both laughed. 

Meanwhile, Gumball began roaming the hallways, searching for Darwin. He was worried about him after he disappeared. He decided to go inside the library since that would be the only other place he could be. He looked around for a couple of moments before deciding that he wasn’t there. He was about to leave when he thought he heard a familiar voice and turned the corner to see Darwin talking to someone but he couldn’t make out who it was. He hid behind a bookshelf and began looking closely. His eyes locked on the girl who Darwin was laughing with. Is that the new girl? Gumball thought. He then remembered who she was, she was the girl who Darwin had a crush on. He was finally talking to her. Part of him felt happy that Darwin finally had gotten the courage to speak to her but... at the same time, he wasn’t happy. Something about her felt...weird. A deep anxiety began forming in the pit of his stomach. A crazy thought popped into his head, Was she the reason behind Darwin’s strange behavior? It was a stupid thought but at the same time, it made sense. Before she came into this school, Darwin was fine, but now? She had to be the reason behind Darwin’s strange behavior, Gumball thought. Gumball looked at them one last time before leaving the library. 

 

Later that day, Darwin was walking home from school while speaking to his conscience. Despite the situation that he had with his family earlier, he was pretty content with his day. 

“I guess, it just feels nice to have control again,” Darwin said. “I don’t want anyone controlling my life anymore.” For the past couple of days, Darwin has not been following orders from anyone, including his family. Sure, he got in trouble for them but to him, it was worth it.

“And you shouldn’t let anyone gain control over you,” The voice said. “Don’t let anyone take that away from you.” 

“You’re right, I’m in control,” Darwin stated to himself. He felt great and...different, but a good different. He was in control, and he wasn’t planning on anyone taking that away from him. Not anymore. He opened the front door of his home and walked inside. 

“I’m home” Darwin called out. He heard no response, assuring him that no one was home. He breathed a sigh of relief and began walking upstairs. He entered his room and to his surprise, he saw Gumball, sitting on his bed, seemingly looking out the window. Darwin was caught off guard, he was sure that he was home alone. 

“Oh hey,” Darwin said, putting his stuff on the ground next to the door, “I thought I was home alone.” Gumball didn’t respond, he just kept staring out the window with his arms crossed across his chest. 

Darwin became concerned. He inched a little closer to Gumball. “Are you okay?” 

“When were you going to tell me?” Gumball asked, finally breaking the silence. He didn’t take his eyes off the window. 

“What do you mean?” He asked. Gumball fixed his gaze on Darwin. 

“I mean that girl you were talking to in the library,” Gumball stated.

Darwin clenched his fists. Rage began bubbling inside him again. “You were spying on me?” 

“No,” Gumball said getting up from the bed. “I was looking for you after you left the cafeteria so angry.” He explained. 

Darwin threw his hands in the air. “Why do you care about who I hang out with?” 

Gumball sighed. He quickly begin to regret this. He didn’t mean to confront Darwin like this, but it was too late. He tried retracing his steps. “Look,” Gumball sighed. “I’m just worried, you haven’t been acting like yourself and I thought that maybe she has something to do with it,” Gumball explained calmly. “I care about you and I just want to know that everything is okay.” 

“I’m fine!” Darwin snapped. 

“See!” Gumball pointed out. “You get so angry over everything and it’s really starting to freak me out,” He choked on the last couple of words. He cleared his throat. 

Darwin rolled his eyes. Mostly at Gumball’s “concern.” “Oh, I’m sorry if I’m just trying to stand up for myself.”

Gumball shook his head. “This is not standing up for yourself, you’re not acting like yourself and you’re getting angry with everyone around you.” Gumball said before taking a deep breath. “If it has something to do with her then maybe you shouldn’t hang out with her anymore.”

“Do you hear that?!?!” The voice yelled. “He’s trying to take Chrissy away from you! Do something” The words "do something" begin echoing in Darwin’s head. He couldn’t let Gumball ruin this for him. Everything was going the way he wanted. He didn’t want this being taken away from him, he couldn’t let that happen. He looked around the room. His eyes settled on a framed picture of him and Gumball. It was both of them looking at the camera, smiling. Without giving it a second thought, he grabbed the frame and, with all his might, threw it at Gumball. Gumball ducked just in time and the frame hit the wall. The glass from the frame shattered and thousands of pieces of glass scattered all across the room. Gumball turned and looked at the mess in horror. If he was only a few seconds late...no he couldn’t imagine that. He slowly looked over at Darwin, who was heavy breathing. He had the angriest look on his face, so much detest. He had never seen like that before. Without saying one word, he made sure that no broken glass was in his way. He then walked over to the door and left. He closed the door behind him and sat down. Millions of things were running through his mind but one thing was sticking out, the fear that he was losing the one thing that mattered most to him, his brother. 

 

PLEASE REVIEW!! It’s very much appreciated. :) 

PEACE ON THE STREEETS SAAAN!


	5. Chapter 5

Hey Guys!! Here’s a new chapter!

After a stressful day of school, Anais finally arrived home. She opened the front door and entered inside. “I’m home,” She said to no one in particular as she closed the door behind her. Her response was met with silence. She breathed an inner sigh of relief. No response meant only one thing, no one else was home. She wouldn’t mind having the house to herself for a little while. Being in a quiet house was a rarity and she wanted to take full advantage of it, even if it was only for a little while. She was about to head upstairs to her room when she heard a quiet voice come from the living room.

“Hey” 

Anais turned around to see Gumball sitting on the couch by himself. She didn’t even notice him when she walked inside. His back was turned to her and his head was hung low. A sinking feeling began forming in the pit of her stomach. Just by Gumball’s posture, she knew something was wrong. 

She walked over and sat down on the couch next to him. “What’s wrong?” 

Gumball shrugged his shoulders, still looking down at the ground. “Nothing,” 

Anais rolled her eyes. Did he really think she would fall for that? “Well it doesn’t sound like nothing,” She said, crossing her arms. “Something’s wrong and now you have to tell me.” Gumball lifted up his head and looked over at her, giving her a weak smile. He loved her persistence. She may be young but she was smart, he liked that. 

“Well, it’s about Darwin,” Gumball began.

“Is it about this morning?” 

Gumball thought for a moment before answering. “Sort of,” He said.

Meanwhile, Darwin was still locked in his room alone. The glass from the picture frame he threw an hour before was scattered all over him. Darwin stared at the broken glass with confusion. He...didn’t remember ever throwing it. All the events that led up to it were all a blur. All he remembered was walking into his room to see Gumball sitting down and then him leaving the room in fear. Gumball’s fearful face was implanted in his brain. The way he slowly backed out of the room, making sure that there was no broken glass near him. His arms up to protect himself in case he was about to throw another thing at him. He wondered exactly what happened. Did he seriously do something wrong? Did he actually throw the frame at him? He knew Gumball was downstairs, so, should he ask him? He knew that was the best thing to do. Darwin needed a clarification over what happened. 

Making sure there was no broken glass in his way, Darwin made his way to the door and left. As he was about to turn the hallway, he heard Gumball and Anais talking in low voices. He hid behind the wall and begin overhearing their conversation. Maybe their conversations would give him answers that he needed. 

“He’s just been acting,” Gumball paused and took a deep breath. “Not like himself.” He finished, shaking his head. 

“Gumball, can I ask you something?” Anais asked. Gumball’s heart began to race. He hated questions like that. The reason being is because it was usually followed by something bad, but he decided to let her ask the question. 

Gumball nodded his head. “Sure,” 

“Why do you care so much about how Darwin has been acting?” Darwin wondered that too. Why did he care so much? 

Gumball looked back on the ground. His lips begin to quiver as tears formed in his eyes. Once Anais noticed, she began to regret ever asking that question. She was about to say “Never mind” when Gumball broke the silence.

“Because it’s all my fault” Gumball cried out, as he put his head in his hands. His shoulders moving as he cried into them. Darwin couldn’t believe it. Did Gumball really blame himself for this? He was about to go downstairs but he stopped himself when he heard Anais respond. 

“How?” 

Gumball lifted his head from his hands. “Look,” Gumball began, tears strolling down his cheeks. “I made him take the blame for me not having my report and me cheating on the test.” Darwin looked down on the ground, memories of that event began flooding back into his memory. He quickly shook his head, he didn’t want to think about that, not now. That’s in the past.

That response caught Anais off guard. She had no idea about all those events. But in a way, it made sense. “You did?” 

“Yes!” Gumball exclaimed. “And I know what I did was wrong and that’s why I feel so bad,” He shook his head and looked straight ahead. He concentrated on the television in front of him, despite it not even being on. “Since then that day, Darwin’s been acting differently. I feel so guilty.” 

Anais felt terrible for Gumball. She hated seeing him this way but now she understood why Gumball’s been so curious about Darwin’s strange behavior. It was because he blamed himself for it. It all made sense, except for one thing. 

“How do you know that it’s your fault?” 

“Because he was fine before, after that day, that’s when things began to change,” Gumball explained, he leans down on the couch. “It’s all my fault.” 

“Look, I know you feel sad, but it’s not your fault,” Anais assured him. 

“It’s not?” 

“No, I don’t know why Darwin’s been acting this way but that’s his choice, you are not forcing him to act this way,” Anais explained. “It’s was his choice, not yours”

Gumball figured that she was right. He needed to stop blaming himself for what is going on with Darwin. He needed to convince himself that no matter what happens, everything will turn out okay. At least, that’s what he hopes for. Gumball then did something that Anais didn’t expect. He leaned over and wrapped his arms around her.

“Thanks,” He says, still giving her a hug. She smiled and returned it. “No problem.”

Darwin smiled at the touching scene. It was so sweet. His happiness didn’t last long as he remembered the conversation that had just taken place. He began walking back to his room. Did he standing up for himself scare his family? Did it really worry them? He never meant to hurt anyone, he just wanted to stand up for himself. Anais did have a point, though. He did choose to act this way. He was hurting and scaring all the people around him and it wasn’t Gumball’s fault, it was his. 

“What are you thinking about?” The Voice asked. Darwin did a slight jump, startled by the sudden interruption. He wasn’t expecting The Voice to speak. Darwin quickly shook off his scare.

Darwin gave a casual shrug. “Maybe, I should stop being so mean to them,” Darwin explained. 

“Stop?” The voice asked. He sounded surprised by his statement. 

“Well yeah,” Darwin said. “They seem really hurt about what I’ve done, I need to apologize to them and put an end to this right now,” He was about to go downstairs and apologize when he felt something. He felt his whole body being pushed by a force. His whole body then slammed against the wall. He took a couple of deep breaths, trying to recover from what just happened. He tried to move and break free of this invisible grip that was holding him, but it was no use. He tried to speak, but no words would come out of his mouth. He had no idea what was going on. 

His heart racing, he could hear his conscience begin to speak, “You can’t ruin this, you’ve got everything you wanted and you just want all of this to go away?” 

Darwin continued to try to get out of this grip but it was no use. He continued to listen as The Voice continued to speak. “If you ruin this for us, then your family will have to pay the consequences.” Darwin stopped moving. His family? He couldn’t imagine his family getting hurt because of his actions. Sure, he’s had a rough week with them but he loved them nonetheless. He loved his family more than anything, even if they didn’t feel the same way about him. He knew the only way for them not to get hurt, was for him to continue obeying what the voice wanted him to do. 

“Will you continue to obey me?” 

Darwin nodded his head. At that moment, the weight on him somehow disappeared and he fell to the ground. As he was getting up, he heard voices coming from the hallway, it was Gumball and Anais. 

“Hey,” Gumball said, concern could be heard in his voice. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing just leaves me alone,” Darwin snapped. He then walked into his room and shut the door. Gumball and Anais seemed confused by what they had just seen. 

“What is going on with him?” Gumball asked. Anais had no answer so she simply shrugged her shoulders.

 

The next morning, the Watterson family were all eating breakfast around the dinner table, as they always did. However, just like the day before, Darwin was nowhere to be found. 

Nicole let out an irritated sigh. “Why is Darwin late again?” Just like the day before, she has left her plate untouched. Her frustrations were taking away her appetite. She didn’t understand why it was so hard for Darwin to be here on time. 

Gumball couldn’t take it anymore. He had to say something to his parents. “Have you noticed how weird he’s been acting?” He blurted out. He cleared his throat afterward, a bit embarrassed on how he blurted it out. He wanted to take it back but he knew it was already out there.

Nicole’s anger switched to confusion. She narrowed her eyes on Gumball. “What do you mean?” 

“How have you not noticed?” Anais asked. Gumball tried his best not to smile. He just couldn’t help it. He was relieved to finally have someone on his side for once. At that moment, Darwin came walking down the stairs and headed straight for the door, ignoring everyone at the dinner table. To him, they were non-existent. 

Nicole took away her attention from Anais and Gumball and focused it on Darwin. She walked over to him. “Darwin! Aren’t you going to come and eat?” 

“I’m not hungry,” Darwin simply said as he opened the front door and left the house. 

Gumball pointed to the front door where Darwin was just moments before. “Did you see that?” 

Nicole rolled her eyes, she had no idea why her family was so concerned about him. “He’s fine, he’s just being a little moody.” 

“But he never acts like that!” Gumball countered. 

Nicole waved away their concerns. “Well one thing I know for sure is that you two should be on your way to school or else you’ll be late.” Gumball and Anais both let out a defeated sigh and grabbed their stuff and left. 

Once they left the house, Anais spoke up. “I can’t believe mom doesn’t believe us.” 

“I know,” Gumball answered. ‘I just hope everything will turn out okay.” He said as they began walking to school. 

 

Darwin walked into the school more upset than ever. He gave dirty looks to anyone who even came close to him. His dirty looks would be returned with confused ones from his classmates. Some students found his behavior odd, but no one dared say one word to him. They knew that something was wrong, but they just didn’t want to get involved. People thought he would get over whatever he was mad about, so they left him alone. Darwin was putting things in his locker when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned around to see that it was Chrissy. 

“Hey,” Chrissy greeted, smiling from ear to ear. Darwin rolled his eyes and turned back around. 

Chrissy’s smile slowly faded away. “Are you okay?” Her voice was barely above a whisper but it was loud enough for Darwin to hear. 

“I’m fine,” Darwin replied, not turning around. He continued shoving books into his locker. 

Chrissy paused and stared at him for a moment before speaking. “Are you sure?” 

“Yes,” Darwin closed his locker and began walking down the hallway to his next class. Chrissy began following him. 

“Look, if something is wrong you should just tell me,” She said as she walked behind him. 

“I told you I’m fine,” Darwin said, still walking straight ahead. Chrissy stopped walking and let Darwin go to his next class. She knew something was wrong, he wasn’t the same guy she had spoken to the day before. She could tell just by looking at him. 

 

It was lunch time and Darwin was in the cafeteria, in line getting something to eat. He was starving and was excited to finally eat, despite the food looked unappetizing. He was having a pretty rough day so far and all he wanted to do was sit by himself and eat, in peace. Once he was out of line, he began walking to his lunch table. Right, when he was at the table he was planning to sit, he bumps into someone, almost causing him to drop all his food. He turns to see he ran into Tobias.

Darwin rolled his eyes. “Watch where you’re going,” He barked. 

Tobias was irritated just as much as he was. Like it wasn’t his fault that he ran into him. “Dude, it was an accident.” 

“Whatever,” Darwin stated. He was about to leave to his table when Tobias blocked him his way. 

“Dude, what’s your problem?” 

Darwin was sick of this. Why couldn’t he just be left in peace? He clenched his hands into fists. He just wanted to be alone and he couldn’t have that. His emotions were at an all-time high. He just wanted to get Tobias out of the way and eat. It’s as if his brain isn’t working properly and the next thing he knows, he’s striking Tobias in the face with his closed fist. He fell to the ground. Darwin quickly snapped out of it and at that moment he looked around the cafeteria. Everyone was surprised by what they had just seen. Only one thing is running through Darwin’s mind, what just happened?

After what felt like an eternity, Gumball stepped forward from the crowd of people that had gathered around them. “Hey, are you okay?” Darwin looked over at Gumball and simply nodded his head, he was still in a daze over what he had just done. 

Darwin was immediately sent to the principal’s office and was given detention for another month. He was almost suspended but thankfully since he never really caused any problems, he was let off easy. Darwin was sitting outside the hallway by himself, waiting for his parents to pick him up. The hallways were empty except for him. Everyone else was in their respected classrooms, including Gumball. Darwin couldn’t stop thinking about how awful he’s been treating him this week. Throwing that picture frame at him, making him worry and giving him a bad attitude. Worst of all was that not only was he doing it to him but he was doing it to his whole family. He was distancing himself from them and that isn’t good at all. He shook his head, he was so disappointed in himself. This isn’t the way he should behave. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone come walking into the hallway. He turned to see who it was and to his surprise, it was Chrissy. “Hey,” 

Darwin smiled. “Hey,” 

She sat down next to him. “Are you okay?” 

Darwin gave a reassuring nod. “Yeah, I’ll be okay.” 

“What happened back there?” Chrissy asked. Darwin thought for a moment, he didn’t know how to answer that question, he really didn’t know what happened himself. 

Darwin looked down at his shoes and shrugged.

“That doesn’t seem like the person I met before,” Chrissy said. “What made you change?” She was right. Darwin has changed and not for the better. Sure, he has only been misbehaving for less than a week but a lot of damage was caused in only a few amount of days. 

“I don’t know, I guess I just tried to stop people from taking advantage of me,” Darwin explained. 

Chrissy shook her head. “Well, that’s not the way to do it, you have to be yourself,” Darwin smiled. Once again, she was right. He figured he was happier being himself. That’s when he heard two familiar voices come into the hallway. He turned to see it was his parents. They were angry, to say the least. Darwin got up from the cold floor and gave them an awkward smile.

“Darwin, what have you done this time?” Nicole asked, angrily. 

Darwin sighed. “I’m sorry Mrs. Mom, you’re right, I shouldn’t have done that,” Darwin said. “Look, I know I haven’t been behaving my best, but I promise to make a change. From now on, I’m going to behave better.” He felt good to get that out of his chest. It was a relief. Nicole gave him a cold stare that gave Darwin the shivers. He didn’t know how well she liked his apology but she was screaming at him, so that’s a plus. 

Nicole simply said. “Fine,” Darwin waved goodbye to Chrissy as he and his parents left the school. 

 

The car ride was silent as Darwin reminded himself of all the events that had taken place this week. Guilt was washing over him. He wanted to talk to his Mom and Dad about how he was feeling but he knew now wouldn’t be a good time so he kept his mouth shut. Once they arrived home, without saying a word, Darwin went straight to his room and closed the door. 

Once he closed the door, he heard the voice speak. “Why did you apologize to them?”

Darwin became angry. It was the Voice’s fault that everything became the way it is. He began pacing in his room, heart pounding out of his chest. “Because what I’m doing isn’t right, this needs to stop.”

The Voice sounded surprised. “Stop?”

“Yes, I’m going to stop obeying you,” Darwin stated. “This needs to end.” 

“You can’t get rid of me.” The Voice said, argued. “If it wasn’t for me, you would still be pushed around by everyone around you.” Darwin stopped moving. He was right. If he hadn’t listened to his conscience in the first place, he would still get pushed around. He was about to apologize when he remembered all the terrible things that he had done this week. 

“No, I’d rather be pushed around then hurt all the people around me,” Darwin said. 

“You’re making a big mistake.” The Voice said. He sounded so sure of himself. So mighty. Darwin shook his head. He knew he was making the right decision. 

“Well it’s my head and I’m in control. Goodbye,” When Darwin said that, all he heard was silence. It startled him. 

“Hello?” He asked. Nothing. He breathed a sigh of relief and fell back onto Gumball’s bed. He was glad to get rid of the voice. Or did he?

 

Hope you guys enjoyed!! Please Please Review! It’s very much appreciated. :)

PEACE ON THE STREEETS SAAAN


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Guys! First, I wanted to apologize for not posting this chapter sooner. I've just been a little lazy and I have dealing with some personal issues, plus I just started school again so I've been a little busy. I really appreciate all the reviews I've gotten so far. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Author’s note: Hey Guys! First, I wanted to apologize for not posting this chapter sooner. I’ve just been a little lazy and I have dealing with some personal issues, plus I just started school again so I’ve been a little busy. I really appreciate all the reviews I’ve gotten so far. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy this chapter!!

 

Gumball walked into his bedroom and threw his backpack against the wall. He had just gotten home from school and he was exhausted, to say the least. Letting out a loud sigh, he walked over to his bed and lied down, still in a daze over the events that happened just hours before. With everything that was happening with Darwin, he just wanted to forget about everything and take a nap. Naps were his favorite way of forgetting about things he didn’t want to think about, even if it was just for a little while. He was just falling asleep when he heard footsteps outside the door. He opened his eyes and sat up to see that it was, to his surprise, Darwin. He was standing in the doorway of the room. He seemed hesitant to come inside as if he was afraid he would get in trouble for coming into his own room.

“Hey,” Darwin said, softly. He didn’t think Gumball heard him since his voice was just above a whisper but sure enough, he responded. 

“Hey,” Gumball said, tapping his fingers on his bed. That was always a bad habit of his. He usually only did it when he was nervous. “Are you feeling okay?” Gumball knew that was a stupid question but he wanted to see his answer. He needed to know what he was dealing with. Was he still in a bad mood? He needed to know. 

Darwin nodded. “Yeah,” He let out a small chuckle. “I’m okay.” 

Gumball smiled. “Well, I’m happy to hear that.” 

There was a slight pause. 

“Listen I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting lately. I didn’t mean to worry you.” Darwin said his voice quivered and his eyes began to water but he continued speaking. “And I’m sorry for throwing that picture frame at you.” Darwin cried. All the shame and guilt over what he’s done hit him all at once. Gumball got up from the bed and gave Darwin a hug.

“It’s okay,” Gumball said as Darwin continued to cry. Gumball felt bad but mostly relieved. Gumball knew who Darwin really was and that person who threw that picture frame at him and punched Tobias in the face wasn’t him. He knew the real Darwin was here, he could tell just by looking into his eyes. Darwin was thankful that Gumball was being so forgiving but he couldn’t understand why. He felt like he didn’t deserve forgiveness but nonetheless, he was thankful. Gumball released him from his hug. 

“So, you feel better now?” Gumball asked. 

Darwin nodded. “Yeah, I’m better now,” He said as he wiped a tear from his eye. He felt embarrassed for crying but he was glad to do it in front of Gumball, who he knew wouldn’t judge him for it. 

Gumball was happy to see Darwin back to his normal self, but he was still curious about one thing. “So, what caused you to act like that?” Gumball asked as he sat down on the bed. Darwin stared down at his shoes. He didn’t really want to go into detail about the conversations with his conscience, especially after he had threatened him. He was planning to tell him one day, but not today. Darwin shrugged.

“I don’t really want to talk about it,” Darwin said, still looking down at his shoes.

Gumball was surprised by his change of tone. Just a moment ago, he was happy and smiling but now he seemed uncomfortable. Gumball’s worry soon came creeping back. “Why?”

Darwin smiled, trying to pretend like it’s not a huge deal. 

“Oh, it doesn’t matter anymore, I promise,” Darwin explained, waving his fin in the air. 

Gumball gave him a reassuring smile. “Okay, don’t worry about it.”

 

The next day, Darwin was walking down the school hallways, ready to begin a new day. He was hesitant on coming to school after what happened the day before. He felt like it was too soon. He tried convincing Nicole to let him stay home for the day but she wasn’t having any of it. She’s been in a sour mood with him for the past week and he knew that the best thing to do was just stay out of her way and just do whatever she wanted him to do, which he did. As he got to his locker before his next class, he saw Chrissy standing next to it, as if waiting for him to get there. She had a smile on her face and for a moment, Darwin forgot about everything bad that had happened the day before. 

“Hi,” She said happily, leaning against a locker.

Darwin smiled back. “Hey,”

“I’m glad to see that you’re back” 

Darwin was confused about that statement. Did she mean that she was happy to see him in school today or happy to see him back to his normal self? He didn’t want to bother asking so he just nodded his head. “Me Too” 

Chrissy paused for a moment as if deciding on what to say next. “So, do you want to hang out after school today?” Darwin was excited to hear that, but he tried his best not to show it. He had been dying to hang out with her since she came into this school and it was finally happening. Then it hit him, he was grounded. The smile he had on slowly vanished and Chrissy took notice.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, It’s just that I just remembered that I’m grounded,” Darwin explained.

“Oh,” She seemed disappointed too. “Well, do you want to hang out at lunch today.”

Darwin nodded, happy to see that there was an alternative. “Sure, I would love that.” 

 

After receiving his lunch, Darwin scanned the cafeteria and sat down at the nearest empty table that he could find. Now that he was here, all he had to do was wait for Chrissy to show up. He was hoping that she would come soon since he didn’t like sitting in the cafeteria alone, especially after everything that had happened yesterday. He was already nervous enough since this was going to be the first time that he was going to actually hang out with her. A lot of things were going through his mind, bad things. He was afraid that maybe she wouldn’t like the real him. What if she thought he was or boring, or worse annoying. That’s one of the reasons why he didn’t like socializing with people. He was always in fear that whoever he was hanging out with, they thought he was annoying.That was just a weird fear he always had. He knew they sounded ridiculous but he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He tried to push those thoughts out of his mind and began eating his food. A few moments later, Gumball walked over with his tray of food. 

“Hey, why are you alone?” Gumball asked. Darwin could swear that he heard the concern in his voice. He had been acting this way since yesterday and it made Darwin uncomfortable. He didn’t understand why he should be concerned about anything. He appreciated that Gumball cared, but for the most part, he was fine. 

“I’m just waiting for someone,” Darwin explained. 

“Oh,” Gumball said. “That’s cool, have fun.” He said as he started walking away. Darwin let out a relieved sigh. He was glad that Gumball had finally left him alone for once. Usually, it was the exact opposite. Darwin sometimes had trouble leaving Gumball alone at times. He always wanted to be around him, but lately, things begin to change. Now, Darwin wanted to be left alone more often. He liked having a little independence. Darwin thought that maybe it was because he was getting older and maturing. That was life after all. 

His thoughts were soon interrupted when he saw Chrissy walking over to his lunch table. “Hi,” Chrissy said happily as she put her tray down on the table.

Darwin’s heart began to race but he tried to play it cool. He didn’t want her to notice how nervous he was. It wasn’t like they were out on a real date or anything. “Hi,” Darwin said with a smile. “How was your day?”

“Good,” Chrissy said. “Yours?”

“Mine too,” He said, and this time, he meant it. It felt like everything was back to normal and he couldn’t be happier. 

“So, is that your brother?” Chrissy asked. Darwin was confused for a moment but then saw that she was pointing to Gumball, who was sitting at a table on the other side of the cafeteria. He was caught off guard by that question, he didn’t even notice her when he was talking to Gumball a few moments before. 

Darwin nodded. “Yeah,”

“Whoa, you guys don’t look alike,” 

“No, well um yeah,” Darwin stuttered. “I’m adopted.” 

Chrissy was surprised by that statement. “Oh, that’s really cool.” 

Darwin shrugged, a bored expression appeared on his face. “I guess.” 

Chrissy noticed Darwin’s demeanor change. “Did I say something wrong?” 

Darwin quickly shook his head. “No no” He assured her. 

Chrissy didn’t entirely believe him. “Are you sure?” 

A sincere smile slowly appeared on Darwin’s face. “Yeah, you’re fine.” Once Chrissy saw his smile, she let her guard down and returned his smile with one of her own. The table soon became quiet as they both began eating their lunch. The only conversations going on were from the people around them. Despite it being quiet, Darwin didn’t feel awkward at all. He usually hated quiet moments like this but he actually felt relaxed. It was nice.

Chrissy soon broke the silence. “So, how’s your family like?”. 

Darwin was, once again, taken off guard. He didn’t really know what to say about them, so he just shrugged and said the first thing that popped into his head. “They’re nice I guess,”

“So you’re pretty close to them aren’t you.” She asked, still smiling like before. 

Darwin fidgeted in his seat. “Well, I mean yeah. Um, Gumball and I are pretty close.” 

“But not with the rest of your family?” 

Darwin paused and thought for a moment. “Well not as much.... but I still have a really good relationship between me, my sister and dad.” 

Chrissy was a little confused. “What about your mom?” Darwin was taken back by the statement. He completely forgot to mention her. 

“I mean,” Darwin paused again. “I mean, I guess we have an okay relationship.”

“Just okay?” 

Darwin shrugged, “I don’t know, I guess because it’s like I’m invisible to her.” Darwin blurted out. He wanted to take it back but it was too late, it was out in the open. He didn’t really mean it, did he? He quickly tried to change the subject. “Maybe we should talk about something else.” 

“Look, I’m sorry if I hit a nerve....” Chrissy began but was interrupted.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore!” Darwin snapped. 

Chrissy and Darwin sat there in silence before she began nodding her head, accepting his request. 

Darwin began to feel guilty, he didn’t mean to hurt her feelings or jump around her questions. He then tried to retrace his steps. “Look,” He began. “My Mom and I don’t have the best relationship but that’s okay, I’ve learned to accept it.” 

“Accept what?”

Darwin sighed and looked down at his food, avoiding her eyes. “That our relationship will never be good,” Darwin admitted shamefully. “Whenever I try to talk to her....it’s like I’m being pushed away.”

Chrissy felt terrible. She had no idea that he had felt this way before, but she could strangely relate to him. “Darwin, I’m so sorry,” Chrissy said. “Sometimes I feel the same way. My parents and I don’t have an amazing relationship either.” 

Darwin looked up. “Really? How?”

Chrissy sighed, leaning back into her seat. “They act like they’re never interested in my life. All they care about are grades.” Chrissy explained, rolling her eyes. “They’re perfectionists. All they care about is me getting straight A’s, nothing else.” 

“I’m sorry,” Darwin said. “So you if you don’t get all A’s, they get mad?” 

Chrissy nodded. “They also work a lot, so I don’t really get to see them, let alone talk to them. It’s like our relationship doesn’t even exist. ” Her voice quivered as she finished her sentence. She sounded like she was on the brink of tears. Darwin didn’t know how to react. He felt terrible. All he wanted to do was to make her feel better. “Well, at least you’re accepted into yours.” 

“What?” Chrissy asked, hoping what she thought she just heard was a mistake. 

“At least you’re accepted into yours” Darwin repeated. It sounded more like a statement. No remorse or sadness could be heard in his voice. 

“Darwin, how can you say such a thing?” 

“Because it’s true!” Darwin snapped. “Because it’s true,” He repeated, but this time, it was only a whisper. 

“You really don’t feel accepted into your family?” It took all of Chrissy’s strength to release those words. The idea that Darwin doesn’t see himself as part of his own family killed her inside. Since the day she started talking to him, she always knew something was different about him, a good different. She hated to see the boy she admired so much put himself down like this. 

“I try too, but sometimes, in random moments, I remember I’m not like them.” Darwin sighed, a single tear rolled down his cheek. It was surprisingly easy for him to open up to Chrissy. He could never open up like this to anyone else, not even Gumball. 

Chrissy shakes her head. “Just because you feel that way doesn’t mean it’s true.” 

“Then why does mom ignore me, like she doesn’t even care?” Darwin asked, expecting her to have an answer but in reality, he knew she didn’t have one. 

“Well, maybe you should try talking to her more, try to rebuild a relationship with her,” Chrissy suggested. 

“I don’t know”

“Let’s make a deal.” She began. “I’ll talk to my parents about my problems if you talk to your mom about yours” 

Darwin thought about it, it seemed scary for him but he knew it was worth a shot. “Deal.” 

 

It was night time and everyone in the Watterson household was getting ready for bed. Darwin was in the doorway of the kitchen, watching his mother wash dishes, which she did every night before going to bed. After the conversation he had earlier today, he decided to take a stand and stop feeling so invisible. He wanted to have a conversation with her, something they rarely ever had. She seemed like she was in a bad mood, but she’s been that way since everything that has happened this week. He tried to not let that phase him. He just wanted to build a better relationship with her. After a couple of moments, he entered the kitchen. Nicole didn’t notice when he walked in since her back was turned towards him. Darwin waited there for a few moments to see if she’ll notice. After a little while, he cleared his throat. Still no answer. 

“Hey, Mrs. Mom,” Darwin finally said. 

“Yes, Darwin?” Nicole answered. Not turning around. Even though he couldn’t see her face, he could tell how she was feeling only by the tone of her voice. Cold and without emotion. 

Darwin took a deep breath. “Can we talk?” 

“Not right now, I’m busy.” She said as she continued washing dishes. Darwin let out a disappointed sigh. He was about to turn around and walk away but he stopped himself. He wasn’t backing out that easily. 

“How about when you’re done washing dishes?” 

Letting out an annoyed sigh, Nicole turned around. “I just don’t feel like talking right now,” 

Darwin didn’t mean to annoy his mom any further, but it’s just something that he wants so badly. A relationship with her. He knew that if Nicole really did love him, she would make an effort to better their relationship. “Okay, how about tomorrow?” 

“Darwin, why don’t you go to sleep,” Nicole said. 

“But we never hang out,” 

“Why does this matter?” 

A lump in Darwin’s throat began to form. “I’m sick of you pushing me away,” 

“Why don’t you just go upstairs,” Nicole answered. Without another word. Darwin turned around and walked upstairs.

 

Darwin tried his best to fall asleep but it was no use. He looked over at the clock next to his bowl. It was almost one in the morning. He couldn’t get the conversation he had with Nicole out of his head. He just couldn’t understand why she was so stubborn to talk to him for at least a moment or two. Anything. He looked over onto the bed next to him to see Gumball sound asleep. For some reason, Darwin couldn’t help but feel...jealous. Not only because he was actually asleep, but because of everything. He had a good relationship with both his parents, friends and was outgoing. Everything came so naturally to him. It was harder for Darwin, he didn’t really have any friends except for Gumball and wasn’t nearly as outgoing. He tried to push past his feelings. He knew he shouldn’t be jealous of anything. Gumball was there for him no matter what. Part of him wanted to wake Gumball up, so that way he could talk about how he felt, from the feelings of pain that he doesn’t really share a connection to his mom to his fears that he’ll never be good enough. He ultimately decided not too. Gumball needed his sleep and so did he. Darwin closed his eyes again and concentrated on falling asleep. 

After a little while, Darwin opened his eyes and saw nothing but darkness. He blinked a few times, trying to figure out if he was dreaming or still awake. Nothing, he saw nothing. He got out of his fish bowl and looked next to him. Gumball’s bed wasn’t there. Neither was Gumball. He began to walk around. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find a way out. His heart began to race. Where was he? He then heard the voice say, “I told you couldn’t get rid of me.” before everything went black.

Hope you guys enjoyed!! PLEASE REVIEW! It’s very much appreciated.

 

PEACE ON THE STREEETS SAAAN!!!


	7. Chapter 7

NEW CHAPTER!!!!!!!!

Gumball woke up to the sound of the alarm clock buzzing. He groaned and turned over in his bed. He hated mornings more than anything in the world. All he wanted to do was sleep in. He always wondered why his school had to start so early, not that school would be any more fun if he did sleep in. Still, it would be a lot better if he could just have a few more hours to stay in bed. He waited for the buzzing to stop like it usually did but the buzzing continued, getting louder and more menacing each second. He found that strange, Darwin always turned off the alarm clock right away. At that moment, however, all he could feel was annoyance. Without moving, Gumball said “Darwin, turn off the alarm clock” 

Gumball waited a few moments but the alarm clock continued blaring. With an annoyed groan, he turned over and shut the alarm clock himself. He turned over to see Darwin still in his fish bowl, sleeping. That was weird. He was always up at this time. Was he sick? 

Gumball got up from his bed and gently knocked on his fishbowl. “Are you awake?” He whispered. 

Darwin’s eyes shot open. “What?” He answered. 

“Well, good morning to you too,” Gumball said with a chuckle. “I know how it feels to be grumpy in the mornings too,” He said as he stretched his arms out. Darwin just rolled his eyes. He then got out of his fish bowl and began getting ready for school. 

“Are you okay?” Gumball asked. 

“Yes,” Darwin said impatiently. “I’m fine”

“Well okay,” Gumball said a little taken back, “You don’t have to get all mad at me,” 

“I’m leaving,” Darwin simply said as he grabbed his backpack from the corner and left the room.

Gumball shrugged. He must be having a bad morning, it was bound to happen one day. He always found it weird that Darwin was always in a good mood every morning. It wasn’t normal well, at least to him it wasn’t. 

After getting dressed, Gumball walked downstairs to see his family eating breakfast, but Darwin wasn’t anywhere in sight. 

“Did Darwin leave already?” Gumball asked. 

“Yeah, he seemed to be in a bad mood,” Anais responded.

Nicole got up from her seat and grabbed some of the empty dishes from the table. “Well, Darwin needs to stop having this bad attitude or else no one will want to talk to him ever again.” She said as she entered the kitchen.

“What’s with her?” Gumball asked, pointing at the direction his mother went.

“Darwin and Mom got into an argument last night,” Anais said as she took a sip from her orange juice.

“Ohhhh,” Gumball said. Now, Darwin’s bad attitude seemed to make a lot more sense. 

 

Darwin walked down the hallway, eyes straight forward, not paying any attention to anyone around him. Chrissy finished putting her books and turned around to see Darwin walking. 

She smiled and waved “Hey, Darwin” Darwin didn’t say anything, he didn’t even turn around. He just continued walking. She was confused for a moment but assumed that he just simply didn’t see her. She walked over to Darwin, who was putting things into his locker. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Chrissy asked. 

“Yeah” Darwin replied, not turning around. 

Chrissy waited a few moments before speaking again, not entirely convinced by his answer. “Are you sure?”

Darwin closed his locker and finally turned to her. “Well, I’ve been thinking and I don’t think this whole relationship thing is working out.”

Chrissy's heart began to race, she had no idea what was going on. “What do you mean?”

“I think we should break up,”

That answer hit Chrissy like a truck, she felt like she wanted to throw up. She couldn’t believe what had just come out of Darwin's mouth. Did he really just say that? “Well, what did I do wrong?” She asked. 

“Nothing,” He said as he closed his locker and walked away. Chrissy stood there by herself, taking everything in. She didn’t know what to do next. She wanted to run over to Darwin, ask him why. Ask him what went wrong, but she knew that would be a mistake. Her stomach was all twisted up, something about his behavior seemed familiar. Very familiar. She quickly shrugged it off. She turned to see Gumball walking down the hallway. After taking a deep breath to relax, she walked up to him. 

“Hey,” Chrissy said. Gumball stopped and gave her an awkward smile. Gumball had never really met Chrissy before but he knew how much Darwin liked her. He wondered why she was talking to him, though. 

“Hi,” Gumball said with a smile. 

Chrissy paused, trying to find the right words to say. “Is your brother okay?” 

Gumball was confused by her tone of voice. She sounded as if Darwin was dying in the hospital. Talk about being over dramatic, he thought. “Uh, yeah. Why?” 

Chrissy shrugged as she put her hands in her pockets. “He was just acting really weird today, have you noticed?” 

Gumball shrugged. “Well yeah, he’s just a little cranky this morning, that’s all.”

“Cranky?” Chrissy asked in disbelief. “You call that cranky?”

“Yeah” 

Chrissy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms at his casual response. 

Gumball quickly got annoyed. He didn’t like it when people rolled their eyes at him. Especially from someone he barely knew. “What?”

Chrissy shook her head. “Nothing,” 

Gumball got closer to her, challenging her. “What’s your problem?” 

Chrissy noticed how threatened Gumball seemed. If he wanted a challenge he was going to get one. “My problem is that Darwin is acting strange and you don’t even care” Chrissy nearly shouted. 

Gumball threw his hands in the air. “He’s having a bad day, what do you expect me to do?” 

Chrissy looked him dead in the eye. “I just expected you to care about your brother”

Gumball was taken back. He couldn’t believe what she had just said. Darwin barely knew her and now she’s acting like she knows everything about him and their relationship. It was taking everything in him to not attack her at that moment. “I care about him a lot, you don’t come here and judge me and my brother’s relationship” He stated. “Now, If I were you, I would just walk away.” 

Chrissy took a deep breath and exhaled. “Fine,” She said and began walking away.

Gumball watched her leave. He couldn’t understand why Darwin ever fell for her. They seemed completely different, Darwin was quiet and nice but her? He couldn’t find any nice words to describe her.

 

Gumball came home from school exhausted. He was happy to finally come home and take a nap, his favorite thing to do after a long day. Despite being happy that he was home, he couldn’t help but think of what happened with Darwin and Chrissy. He hadn’t seen Darwin all day today. He was probably hiding away from everyone and he didn’t blame him. Gumball continued to think about the “fight” that Darwin and his mom had the night before, which was most likely the reason why he was such in a crabby mood in the first place. He felt bad for Darwin. Him and Nicole never really ever interacted all that much and it seemed to upset Darwin. Gumball recalled a time when Darwin came up to him upset that he didn’t have as great of a relationship with his mother like Gumball did. Gumball knew how important that was to Darwin since he loved his whole family. All he wanted to do was make everyone happy. Despite feeling a little bad, Gumball couldn’t help but feel a little bit angry about the argument he had with Chrissy a few hours before. Her acting like he didn’t care about his brother. What does she know? Gumball thought. She hasn’t known him her whole life. As he was walking down the hallway into his room. He ran into Anais. 

“Oh hey Gumball,” She said as she looked around, seemingly distracted by something else.

Gumball quickly took notice.“You okay?” 

She stopped looking around and focused her attention on Gumball. “Yeah, have you seen Darwin?”

Gumball shook his head. “Not in a while, why?”

Anais sighed. “Never mind” 

“What’s wrong?

“Well,” Anais said hesitantly, she didn’t know if it was a good idea to tell Gumball, but she thought it would be worth a shot. “It’s just, Darwin was acting really weird today.”

Gumball couldn’t feel like this was Deja Vu. The way Anais said that was similar to the way Chrissy said it. Gumball suddenly became more interested in what Anais had to say. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I saw him alone today, he refused to talk to anyone,” Anais explained. A sad tone could be heard in her voice. 

“Maybe he was still in a bad mood after what happened between him and mom,” Gumball said.

“Well,” Anais said with helpless shrug, “that’s what I thought at first, but then..” She paused.

“What?”

Anais sighed. “He snapped at me,”

Gumball couldn’t believe it. Darwin had never snapped at Anais before, even when he was really annoyed with her. It just wasn’t him. “Really?”

“Yeah, I wanted to talk to him during lunch since he was all alone, and then he started yelling at me, telling me to leave him alone,” Anais said. “It got so bad that..” Anais paused again. “That he had to leave and go to the Principal’s office.” 

“What?!” Gumball asked. How could he have missed that? He had the same lunch period with both of them. But then he remembered, he had skipped lunch that day because he needed to catch up on some work he had to do in the library. 

“Yeah, it was weird.” She said. “I just hope he’s okay, he’s acting all angry again like he was before.” She then walked into her room and closed the door, leaving a confused Gumball alone in the hallway. 

Gumball stood there for a few more moments and then walked into his room. Closing the door behind him, he walked to his bed and laid down, not believing what Anais had just told him. Was Darwin acting like he was just a couple of days before? Angry and rude. He thought that attitude was gone. Was he wrong? Was something seriously wrong with Darwin? Was he really in a bad mood or worse? He was acting unusual this morning and he did it find weird that he broke up with Chrissy after he talked about how much he liked her. He sat up in his bed, he tried not thinking like that but, he couldn’t help it. He felt like something was wrong with Darwin, very wrong. He could feel it in his heart. He had to do something, but he didn’t know what. He then thought about Chrissy, who had asked if there was something wrong with Darwin. Gumball started to feel bad, maybe she was right all along, maybe there was something wrong with Darwin. He knew the only way to find out was to talk to Chrissy.

Make sure to review :)

PEACE ON THE STREEETS SAAAN


	8. Chapter 8

Hey Everyone! Here’s the new chapter! I hope you enjoy it! :) 

Gumball walked down the sidewalk, looking at all the houses that surrounded him. To him, they all looked exactly the same. He grumbled under his breath. He hated it when houses looked similar. It always made it harder to find someone’s house. He also found it creepy. In all the scary movies he watched growing up, the neighborhoods always had similar looking houses, which is why he felt like he was in a horror movie at the moment. 

He soon walked by a house with a few children playing in the front yard. They had most likely just gotten off school. For some reason, the sight of the kids playing made Gumball happy inside. It reminded him of when he was younger. He loved playing outside whenever he got the chance, especially with Darwin. Darwin. Thinking of him made Gumball’s heart drop. He couldn’t stop thinking and worrying about him, no matter how hard he tries. He doesn’t even know where he is right now. He’s the reason why he’s even walking in this direction in the first place. He’s going over to Chrissy’s house. He wanted to talk to her, about Darwin. He was acting strange again and for some weird reason, Gumball felt like she might know why. Darwin was getting pretty close to her, he may have told her something that might be a key to his strange behavior. Gumball was able to get Chrissy’s address from some people from school. He was hesitant about going to her house after the fight he had with her earlier that day, but he knew this was the right thing to do. 

After walking a few minutes, he thought he found the right house. He stood in front of it for a little bit, double checking the address and building up the courage to approach it. He took a deep breath and finally walked up to the house. He stood in front of the front door and rang the doorbell. He waited for a few moments. No answer. He didn’t even hear anything inside. He rang the doorbell again. Still nothing. Did he get the wrong address? He checked to make sure. It was the right house. He decided it was best to just leave. He sighed and turned around. As he was leaving, he heard the door behind him open. He spun around and saw Chrissy at the front door, staring curiously at him. 

He gave her an awkward wave, “Hi,”

Chrissy couldn’t help but chuckle at Gumball’s awkwardness. It reminded her of Darwin for some reason. “Hi,” She said as she waved back. They stood there for a few moments in silence. Chrissy was confused. She had no idea why Gumball was standing in front of her house or why he wasn’t speaking. He just stood there, gazing up and looking at the outside of her house. 

“Do you want to come in?” Chrissy asked as she pointed inside her home. 

Gumball was hesitant of coming inside because of the argument they had earlier, but it was too late to back out now. 

He nodded his head. “Sure” They both walked inside the house as Chrissy shut the door behind them. The first thing Gumball noticed when he walked into her home were boxes. There were boxes everywhere. All over on the floor all around the living room and hallway. Some of them were empty but others were completely unopened. There were also a few picture frames on the wall. It was of Chrissy and two people who looked like to be her parents. 

“Sorry about the mess” Chrissy commented as she kicked an empty box out of her way. “Follow me.” She said as she walked down the hall.

“It’s fine,” Gumball said as he slowly followed her. He tried to make sure there wasn’t anything in his way since he didn’t want to break anything. He was always pretty clumsy. Everyone who knew him knew that. Chrissy led him into what seemed to be her bedroom. Walking in, Gumball looked around to see her room had a bookshelf, a bed, dresser and a few boxes, just like the ones that were in the living room and hallway.

“Sorry, my room isn’t completely unpacked yet,” Chrissy said, as she looked around her room. She then sat down in a chair next to her desk. “You can sit down if you want, any place is fine.” She said to Gumball.

Gumball looked around to see there weren’t any other chairs. He then decided to just sit down on her bed. He wondered if that was okay but Chrissy did say that anywhere was fine. 

“So where are your parents?” Gumball asked, trying to fill in the awkward silence. He moved his hands over Chrissy’s bed, he liked the way it felt. It was way softer than the bed he had at home. His bed was pretty old. He’s had it for years since his family didn’t have a lot of money to buy new things. 

Chrissy rolled her eyes. “Oh, they’re at work, they won’t be here for a little while,”

“Do they work a lot?” Gumball asked.

Chrissy’s face softened. She slowly nodded her head. “Yeah, they aren’t home much. That’s why there are so many boxes laying around the house. They don’t have a lot of time to unpack since we moved about a month ago. I have to do a lot of it for them.” She explained, staring down at her hands in front of her.

Gumball felt bad. He had no idea about how much her family worked. His mom worked a lot too but he still got to see her during the day, he couldn’t imagine how Chrissy felt having both parents work all day and not being able to see them that much. By the way, she acted, Chrissy seemed really laid back. He started to feel even more guilty for arguing with her just hours before. He felt like he got the wrong impression of her. 

Chrissy looked up at Gumball. “So, why are you here?” 

Chrissy’s question snapped Gumball into reality. He completely forgot why he was even here. He cleared his throat. “Well, I just wanted to apologize for what happened earlier,”

Chrissy quickly shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said all those things about you and Darwin’s relationship.” Gumball sighed sadly as Chrissy continued. “I just assumed something was wrong with Darwin because he broke up with me but you were right.”

Gumball shook his head. “No, you are right, something is wrong with Darwin.” 

Chrissy leaned back in her chair. “What do you mean?” 

“Look, for the past week, he’s been acting strangely. He’s been getting angry easily, even to the point of getting violent. He’s never done that before. When I’m talking to him, it’s like he’s not there. It’s like someone else is in there. I know you probably thinking I’m overreacting but I swear, something is wrong with him, I just don’t know what.” Gumball said. He could feel tears well up in his eyes but he pushed it back. It was hard for him to admit that to anyone let alone Chrissy. He didn’t want to end up sobbing in her bedroom. 

Chrissy stood up from her chair. “All those things sound so familiar,” Chrissy said as she looked around her room, she then looked at Gumball. “I think I know what’s wrong with him.” 

Gumball let out a small gasp.“You do?” 

“I think I do, but I might be wrong..” Chrissy said as she looked down on the ground. She then looked at Gumball. “You see, I’ve seen this happen before.”

“Really?”

“Yes, you see, at my old school, I knew this guy and he was really nice but then all of a sudden, he began acting strange to the people around him,” Chrissy said as she paced around the room. 

Gumball leaned forward. “What do you mean by strange?” 

“Well, he started getting angry easily and began to lose his temper more and more.” She continued. “He was never like that before, he was actually a really nice guy. Then, he got expelled for getting into a fight.” Chrissy said as she shook her head. The events were still fresh in her memory. 

Gumball’s eyes widened. “What happened after that?” 

Chrissy sat back down on her chair. “Well, my group of friends and I tried to figure what happened to him. So, we began searching and we find out that he had this type of virus.”

Gumball raised his eyebrow. “Virus?”

“Yes, it’s called Parsilite,” Chrissy explained. “It’s this type of virus that speaks to you in your mind. It starts out innocent. It begins telling you things and the more you listen to it, the powerful it gets. If you don’t stop it soon, it could take over you completely. It’ll destroy your mind.”

Gumball was lost. “Wait, do you think Darwin might have this “virus”?

Chrissy nodded her head. “Well he’s showing all the symptoms”

Gumball let out a small chuckle. He couldn’t believe what Chrissy was saying. Did she really think Darwin’s condition was that serious? He was definitely skeptical. “How so?” 

“Well, has he been losing his temper easily?” She asked.

“Well, yeah..” Gumball said, darting his eyes to the side. 

“Has he lost any of his memories?” 

Gumball was about to shake his head when he remembered, the picture frame. He remembered when Darwin threw the picture frame at him after a small fight they had. After Darwin threw that picture frame, he seemed to have forgotten all about it. When Gumball mentioned it to him, he couldn’t remember it. It was as if he completely blacked out. 

Gumball shook his head. “You think Darwin has this?”

“Well, maybe!” Chrissy said as she crossed her arms. She could see that Gumball was having a hard time believing her and it was making her a little irritated. 

Sure enough, she was right. Despite some of the evidence, Gumball had a hard time believing Chrissy. It all sounded too far fetched. He got up from the bed. “Look, you’re a nice girl and I’m really sorry but I have a hard time believing that Darwin has this.”

Chrissy was dumbstruck. “But he has all the signs, he’s getting angry easily, is losing his temper more and more. He’s not acting like himself. Don’t you think that’s odd?”

Gumball thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I don’t know, I mean, I do find him acting strange and I am worried about him. Really I am. It’s just, I don’t think he has a virus.” Gumball said with a small chuckle. “I think that’s going too far.”

Chrissy gave him a small smile but then asked. “You really don’t think he has this virus, even though some of his symptoms points to it?” 

“Look, I am worried about Darwin, but I think that he’s just going through a hard time, not having some virus devouring him and his mind.” He explained. “We can’t always think worst case scenario like this.”

Chrissy slumped in her chair. “ I don’t know, I’m just worried. I don’t want this to happen again.” She said as she rubbed her temples. 

Gumball kneeled down beside her. “Look, Darwin already apologized about some of the stuff he did a few days ago.” 

She looked over at him.“He did?” 

“Yeah, you see, he’s trying,” Gumball said, he then stood back up. “This will blow over.” 

Chrissy nodded. She figured that Gumball was right. Maybe Darwin didn’t have that type of virus. She did have a tendency to overreact and Gumball did know Darwin more than her. Maybe Darwin has temper tantrums often and she just didn’t know about it.

“You’re right, I am overreacting. Maybe Darwin is going through a phase or something else minor. The virus is extremely rare.” She said as she got up from her chair. 

Gumball smiled. “Well, I better go home, It’s almost past my curfew.” 

“Okay, and don’t worry about Darwin. The virus usually starts out after the victim feels manipulated.” Chrissy said as she opened the bedroom door. 

Gumball stopped in his tracks. He turned to face her. “Manipulated?”

“Well, yeah. If let’s say, the victim feels really pushed around by someone or many people, that’s when he starts showing symptoms. That’s what happened with my friend.” She explained.

“Oh,” Gumball said, he then looked down at the ground.

Chrissy noticed how quickly Gumball’s demeanor seemed to change. She tilted her head. “Do you think Darwin felt pushed around?”

Gumball quickly looked up from the ground. He then waved his paw away. “No, I know he’s fine.” He said with a nervous chuckle. “Well, I better go.” 

“Well, goodbye,” Chrissy said as Gumball left her room.

Gumball walked home with a lot of thoughts running through his head. Did Darwin have this “virus?” Did Darwin really feel manipulated? He was taking a lot of advantage of him lately. He took away his report, got him in trouble with school and his parents. Darwin was also experiencing problems with his mom. Maybe it was taking a toll on him. More than he was letting on. Darwin always had a habit of pretending that his problems weren’t a huge deal. He didn’t like to worry anyone and make a fuss about it. Gumball sighed. He couldn’t help but blame himself for this whole problem. If he had just taken responsibility for his actions, Darwin wouldn’t be in this mess. He wanted to fix it, but he just didn’t know where to start. He thought maybe it would be best to talk to Darwin, see how he is feeling about everything and then go from there. 

Finally, Gumball arrived at his house. He opened the front and threw his backpack next to the door. “I’m home.” He shouted out. He heard no response. Assuming he was home alone. He fell onto the couch and lied there for a few moments. He liked the peace of being home alone. It really cleared his mind. His peace of mind was then interrupted when he heard a loud crash. The crash was so loud that Gumball fell from his seat on the couch and onto the ground. He sat there a few seconds, puzzled by the noise. He swore that he heard the crash coming from his bedroom. What was that? Gumball thought. He had assumed that there was no one else in the house. He decided to go upstairs and investigate. He slowly went up the stairs and heard more strange noises in the hallway. It sounded it was coming from his room. He could see the door was open just a creek. 

He slowly opened the door and was shocked by what he was seeing. It was Darwin, he was throwing all their stuff around the room. Their desk was overturned on the floor, resulting in a various of objects such as their computer, pencils more being scattered all over the floor. 

Seeing all the mess made Gumball furious. “Dude, what are you doing?” Gumball shouted.

Darwin turned around and in that moment, Gumball knew there was something seriously wrong. 

Darwin looked angry, really angry. He was breathing heavy after having to lift that big desk. After seeing how angry Darwin seemed, Gumball’s anger suddenly disappeared and fear took its place. 

“Hey,” Gumball said calmly, putting his hands up to protect himself. “Are you okay?” 

Darwin grabbed the alarm clock from the table next to him and threw it at Gumball. “I’M FINE,” He screamed. Gumball ducked just in time and barely missed the alarm clock. It shattered in the wall behind him. In that moment, he knew Chrissy was right along. He had the virus and it was all his fault.

“Darwin, I’m so sorry,” Gumball said shaking his head. Tears running down his face. Darwin said nothing. He just stared at him, his gaze was blank, but full of rage. That made Gumball’s heart break even more. Darwin looked around and one of the first things he saw was a chair. He grabbed the chair and threw it with all his might. The last thing Gumball sees is the chair being thrown his way before everything goes black. 

 

Please review :) Please? Even a small one? Thanks for reading :) It’s much appreciated. 

 

PEACE ON THE STREETS SAAAN


	9. Chapter 9

Pain. Pain was the only thing that Gumball could feel as he slowly grew conscious. The pain was coursing throughout his entire body. It started from the side of his head, then continued to his stomach, then lastly, his legs. The pain continued to get stronger every time Gumball breathed too heavy. By the pain he felt in his head, he knew that he was hit by something in that area, hard. He felt like he was hit by a truck a few hundred times. It sure didn’t help that millions of questions were going through his mind, All at once.What happened before he lost conscious? Why did his body, especially his head, hurt so much? He couldn’t remember, It was all blurry. All those thoughts were rushing through his head and he hadn’t even opened his eyes yet, he was too scared. Too scared of what he might see once he did. He knew something was wrong, very wrong. He could feel it in the pit of his stomach. He tried to move his hand to rub the part of his head that hurt but when he tried, he couldn’t move his hand, in fact, he couldn’t move at all. It was like he was restrained. After trying to move a little more, he slowly opened his eyes. He saw that he was in his bedroom. He let out a small sigh of relief, at least he knew where he was. He slowly looked down to see what was restraining him and saw that he was tied up in his desk chair.

“What the-?” He said as he began to frantically move. He stopped for a moment, the movement was causing his head to hurt even more. He took a deep breath and held it in a for a few moments, hoping that his headache would subside. He sighed, letting all the air out of his lungs. It didn’t help. His head was still pounding, with the rest of his body.

“Awww, looks like you’re stuck”

Once Gumball heard that, panic truly started to set in. It came from the other side of the room and Gumball knew exactly who it was. He turned to see Darwin, holding a piece of rope and swinging it around playfully. A small smirk appeared on his face. 

Gumball stopped moving altogether. He knew exactly what was going on. “Where’s Darwin?” 

Darwin seemed surprised by that response, he sure wasn’t expecting it. He began to pace around the room. “I’m right here,” he said, still swinging the rope in his hand. Gumball scoffed. He knew exactly what he was trying to do. He was trying to scare him away, but Gumball wasn’t going to back down.

He shook his head. “No, I know who you really are. He paused, preparing himself for what he was going to say. “You’re some type of virus” Gumball stated. It hurt for him to say it. He knew that as soon as those words came out of his mouth, it made it real. All his this was real. 

“What took you so long to realize that Sherlock,” The Voice in Darwin’s body said as he paced around the tied up Gumball. His tone was playful, it made Gumball’s stomach turn. “Really, I was surprised that you didn’t catch up earlier.” 

Gumball looked away. He hated this virus. His sarcasm and attitude were awful but the worst part? He wasn’t Darwin. Darwin didn’t deserve to be taken over by this virus. He didn’t deserve any of this. The more Gumball thought about that, the angrier he became. 

Gumball looked back at the Virus, making sure he didn’t show any emotion. He didn’t want to show any of his anger or fear, he knew the virus would feed off of all the emotions he would show. “Where’s Darwin?” 

“What do you mean?” The voice asked again, his tone still playful. 

Gumball couldn’t take it anymore. All the anger he had inside came bubbling up to the surface. “I mean, what did you do to Darwin?!” Gumball shouted. The Virus was taken back by the sudden rise in Gumball’s voice and attitude but was mostly amused by it. There went Gumball’s plan on being emotionless. 

“Whoa, you don’t have to yell?” The Virus said, he had a smile on his face that could give anyone around shivers down their spine. Gumball took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. The shouting caused his head to hurt even more. He knew yelling wouldn’t get himself anywhere. Before he could say anything, the voice continued. “Darwin is fine, for now..”

Gumball breathed a sigh of relief. He needed to hear that reassurance. He needed it to keep going. “Well,” Gumball began. “I think that it’s best if you just leave right now.”

The Virus stopped pacing and stood by Gumball for a moment. He actually seemed to be thinking about what Gumball had just said. Gumball’s heart skipped a beat. Did it actually work? Before he could get too excited, the virus spoke. “I don’t know why I should,” He said shrugging his shoulders. “ It’s not like it’s my fault that all of this happened.” 

Gumball was dumbfounded by that statement. “What do you mean, this is COMPLETELY your fault” He stated. “You are the one that is causing all of this.” How could the virus not see that? Gumball wished he could be untied so that way he could slap some sense into him.

The Virus could see that Gumball was confused. He kneeled down so that way he and Gumball were eye to eye. “Am I?” 

Gumball slightly tilted his head back and let out a loud groan, not caring that virus saw and heard it. He had enough of these mind games. All he wanted was Darwin back. “What on earth are you talking about?” 

The Virus stood back up and walked over to Gumball’s desk. It was messy as always, papers and pencils were scattered all over the desk.The Virus noticed a picture of Gumball and Darwin next to the computer. He picked up the picture frame and looked at it for a little bit, studying it. He then turned back to Gumball, who was giving him an annoyed but suspicious glare. “You said that you know about this virus, right?”

Gumball was surprised by this question. He wasn’t sure how to answer that. “Yeah.....”

“You know all the symptoms?”

Gumball simply nodded. He had no idea where this was going. 

“Well, since you know all the symptoms,” The Virus began. “Don’t you think that maybe you caused all of this.” 

Gumball let out a loud snort, he couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. “Look, I know that I took advantage of him earlier this week....” 

The virus slammed the picture frame onto the desk, causing the frame to explode with glass shards being thrown all around the room. A few of the glass shards fell in front of Gumball’s feet. That explosion caused Gumball to stop dead in his tracks. He wasn’t laughing anymore. The Voice was breathing heavy, caused by the anger he was feeling and the veracity he used smashing that picture frame onto the desk.“No, It’s more than that.” 

“What do you mean there is more?” His voice barely above a whisper. He was afraid to speak too loud or to laugh or to do anything remotely out of line. He was too afraid of causing the voice to get angrier. It made his heart ache even more seeing this come from Darwin’s body.

The Voice began pacing the room once again.“Well, let’s go back in time.” He began, his demeanor calmer than just a few moments ago. “Remember that time when you tried to ruin his chances of going in the marching parade.” 

Gumball’s heart began to beat faster. He remembered that he was so jealous of Darwin during that time. He couldn’t handle the fact that Darwin got the solo in the marching band and he didn’t make the team at all. Before, whenever he remembered that he would get angry over it. Now, he wishes he could go back to it, when Darwin was himself, before any of this ever happened. Then it him, how did the Virus know about that? “How do you know about any of that? How do you know that I was so jealous of him? ”

The Virus pointed at his head. “I have all of his memories” He explained, his voice scarier than ever before, well to Gumball at least. He couldn’t tell what he was more afraid of, the tone he was using or the words that came out of his mouth. Maybe the second one. “And I know far more then you can ever imagine.”

Gumball began to tremble. He always did that when he was scared. He was actually pretty embarrassed about it. He didn’t know why he did it. He blamed it on him being a cat. But he tried his best to keep his composure. He didn’t want the virus to see his fear, but it might have been a little too late for that. “Like what?” 

The Voice thought for a moment, then he spoke. “Well, I know that you got mad at him over a dream.” 

Gumball looked down in embarrassment and sadness. He remembered that too. Way back before he and Penny began dating, Gumball had a dream that Darwin kissed Penny. He was really angry about it, even though it wasn’t real. Just like the marching band fiasco, he got mad at Darwin for something that wasn’t his fault. The Voice got closer to Gumball. “Is that true or false?” 

Gumball kept his head down, so he wouldn’t see The Voice in the eye, he couldn’t. All he could do is nod. 

“I also see that you don’t always treat him like family, true or false?” The voice asked, getting even closer to Gumball. Gumball still looked at the ground, intimidated by The Voice in front of him. Tears began forming in his eyes. “Yes,” he whispered.

“I didn’t hear you...” The voice said.

“I said YES, you are right!” Gumball yelled at the top of his lungs. He didn’t care how loud he was, he didn’t care who was around. He couldn’t take it anymore. The sadness and pain he felt inside were too much as he burst into tears. “Are you happy?” He could barely get those words out. Once the tears started, they wouldn’t stop. Gumball hated acting this way, especially in front of the voice.

He wished so badly that Darwin was in front of him right now, technically he was, but not the REAL Darwin. He wanted the real Darwin to speak to him. To hug him and tell him everything was going to be okay. Before, whenever Gumball would be sad, Darwin always knew exactly what to do to make him feel better. It was like his superpower. Gumball could never figure out how he did it. Sometimes, Darwin would just say the exact things that Gumball needed to hear to bring him out of his bad mood. Other times, he wouldn’t speak at all. He would just sit there and hug him in silence. They would just sit in an empty room, Darwin not saying anything, just hugging him until Gumball was finally ready to say something about how he was feeling. If Gumball asked Darwin to keep it private, he would, without argument. It would just be between the both of them. It was so special to Gumball but now it’s gone. All of it was gone. “I’m sorry Darwin,” Gumball whispered under his breath. Even though Gumball knew Darwin didn’t hear him, he hoped he did, somehow. 

At that moment, they heard the doorbell ring. Gumball was relieved for the interruption. He needed time, time to think. Sadly, The Voice took quick notice of Gumball’s relief. “I wouldn’t get excited if I were you.” 

Gumball scoffed, trying to deny any trace of relief he had just shown.“Why?” 

The Voice got closer to Gumball’s face until he was only a few inches away from him. “Well. I’m in Darwin’s body and you wouldn’t want anything to happen, would you?” 

Gumball was shocked upon hearing that, but he knew he was right, he couldn’t risk anything, not if he wanted to save Darwin. He didn’t know exactly what The Voice was capable of but he didn’t want to find out the hard way. All he could do is listen and obey what the voice said. Gumball reluctantly nodded his head. “Fine”

“That’s what I thought,” The Voice said, still only a few inches from Gumball’s face. “Just be quiet or else.” He then got up and walked to the door. The Voice looked at Gumball one last time before going out the door and closing it behind him. As soon as the door shut, Gumball let out a loud gasp. He felt like he could finally breathe again. He didn’t know how long he was holding his breath for. At least for a couple of minutes. The relief that Gumball felt faded as soon as he realized something, who was at the door? He wanted to move closer to the door, to see that maybe he could hear what was going on downstairs, but he didn’t want to risk it. He just sat there and waited. 

The Voice walked downstairs and opened the front door. It turned out to be Chrissy. 

She gave him a shy but surprised smile. “Hi Darwin, I didn’t know you were home.”

The Voice stared at her for a moment before saying anything. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” He said with no emotion.

Chrissy gave him an awkward chuckle. “I just thought you would be at school.” She then tried to peek inside the house. “Sooo, where’s Gumball?”

The Voice quickly looked behind him, making sure that no one was there. He then turned back around.“Oh, he’s not home” 

Chrissy let out a disappointed sigh. “Oh, where is he?” 

“I think he has detention.” The Voice said, still with no emotion.

Chrissy tilted her head. “Really, has he been in detention all day?” 

“Yeah,” The Voice said. 

“Ohh okay,” Chrissy said. She continued to look inside the house behind him. She then did something that The Voice didn’t expect. She walked into the home without any warning or permission. “You have a nice house.” She said as she looked up the stairs.

“Thanks,” The Voice said. He had to play it cool, he didn’t want to give anything away. 

Chrissy turned around and smiled. “So, do you want to go upstairs and hang out?” 

The Voice shook his head. “No, I’m too busy.” 

Chrissy crossed her arms. “With what?” 

The Voice stomped his foot onto the ground. “Just stuff!” 

Chrissy didn’t flinch when he snapped, her posture exactly the same as before. “Why are you so angry?” 

Gumball, who was still upstairs, tried his best to listen to what was happening downstairs. He thought he heard The Voice shouting, but the question is, who was he shouting at? Was it his Mom? Dad? Anais? 

The Voice got closer to Chrissy until they were face to face, the same way he did with Gumball. “I’m angry because you won’t leave.” 

“Chrissy put her hands up in defeat. “Fine, see you later I guess..” She said as she walked to the door.

The Voice nodded his head as he slowly calmed down. “Goodbye.” He simply said.

Chrissy opened the door and turned around to say goodbye. She then looked up and saw above the staircase and a giant smile appeared on her face. “Hey, Gumball.”

The Voice quickly turned to the staircase. He couldn’t believe that he had actually escaped. However, as soon as he looked up, he saw that no one was there. At that moment, Chrissy hit The Voice in the head, knocking him out. She looked down and sighed, “Sorry Darwin.” It hurt her to do that, but she knew she had to. She then headed up the stairs. 

Gumball was patiently waiting for something to happen, anything, but he was met with complete silence. It had been silent for too long, way too long. Many questions were running through his mind. Who was downstairs? Why was there yelling? He then saw the door slowly open, he closed his eyes and sat completely still. Waiting for The Voice to say something. but he didn’t hear anything. He then heard, “Gumball.” He opened his eyes to see Chrissy. 

Gumball sighed, a genuine smile appeared on his face. “How did you know I was here?” 

Chrissy returned Gumball’s smile a with one of her own. “Darwin was acting weird. It didn’t take me long to figure everything out.” 

Gumball let out a small chuckle. “What do we do now?”

“Well now, we have to fix him.”

A small flicker of hope appeared in Gumball’s eyes. Could he be fixed? Could all of this go away? “So there’s a way to fix him?’ 

Chrissy slowly nodded her head.

Gumball took a deep breath, preparing himself for what was about to come. “How?”


End file.
